


Yeah, I decided to skip it

by 0urhappygirl500



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Mukuro is doing her best, Multi, save this child naegi, she's a lot better at acting than her sister gives her credit for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-08-31 10:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8575660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0urhappygirl500/pseuds/0urhappygirl500
Summary: What would have happened if Junko couldn't go through with killing her sister? How would Mukuro have dealt with the class trials?





	1. A change in plan

“Wait hold on a second!” She shouted her line as Junko or rather Monokuma had finished describing what the class trial was with the others.

She was cooperating with her sister’s hopeless plan and impersonating her under the pretense of participating in the killing game along side her classmates. According to the plan, Mukuro was supposed to oppose Monokuma (who her sister was controlling), and be locked in a dungeon as punishment. Isolated from the others, she would then be let out of the dungeon and perform various acts intended to deprive the students of hope. 

That was the role her sister had assigned her.

She took a breath as she spoke the lines that she had been taught to memorize, practically reading from the script her sister had given her. “You’re freaking insane, you know that!?”

However instead of acknowledging what she said, the Monokuma robot simply looked at her, which was weird. The bear just stared at her for a pause far longer than necessary, her script already delayed by two seconds. But that didn’t change the plan. It wasn’t important she just had to deliver the rest of her lines and afterwards she’d fall through the trap door.

She had to focus, her soldiers training and instincts could cause her to jump away from the trap door if she wasn’t careful.

She had to deliver her lines. She had to fall through the trap door. Afterward, she would remain isolated from the other students. That was the role her sister had given her.

She had to make her sister happy no matter what. She was going to do this right. She wasn’t going to make any mistakes.

“A class trial? What the hell is that!? I don’t want any thing to do with it!” She yelled and this time the Monokuma robot responded to her.

Only it was not the response that she had been told to expect “yeah no, lets skip this” Monokuma said in a bored tone.

“Huh?” she said in confusion because that hadn’t been what she’s expecting, Already, a ball of axiety formed inside her chest and threatened to stop her words from even reaching her throat. No this was nothing to worry about, she reassured herself. This was just another one of her tests.. Junko is just trying to see how well she can give her lines.

But Monokuma was still looking at her with a bored and tired expression, “yeah maybe it would be better if we skip this” the bear said to her.

Again, Junko deviated from the script which further exacerbated her alarm. She was at a lost as to how to respond to these changes. Should she… change her lines too? No, that was too risky and she might just ruin everything instead. She wasn’t going to let Junko down she could still do what her sister had planned, maybe this was her sister’s way of letting her be useful without simply relying on a script prepared for her.

“Why, why should I waste my time trying to figure out who murdered someone!?” she said the lines Junko had given her but not as confidently as she had been at the start.

“Wow you really should stop, you’re acting like a spoiled brat,” Monokuma said to her, “huh?” she, she didn’t understand what was happening.

“Listen up you kids! You’re all in high school now! It’s time you started acting more mature so I better not hear anything about not participating in the class trial!” Monokuma announced.

“Hey wait a minute-“ she started to say before Monokuma cut her off. 

“Because if any of you defy me you’ll get shot full or holes, exploded, buried alive, disintegrated…. Et cetera. So if you don’t want that to happen to you, you’d best obey those school regulations!” Monokuma said

“You, you can’t be serious…” she said quietly and even though she hadn’t really been speaking to anyone, even though she hadn’t been speaking to Monokuma he still replied, “oh I’m serious! Any more talk from you about not participating in the class trial and I’ll make sure to kill you in front of everyone! And that’s a promise!” 

Junko had tried to kill her before, well not really. Her sister knew that someone who held the title of Super High School Level Soldier wouldn’t die so easily. And since Junko knew that those attempts wouldn’t work, they weren’t really attempts on her life. Her sister just wanted to try and taste the despair of her death. 

Because even if they never said it all that much they loved each other, and so her death would give her sister unbelievable despair. Mukuro knew every time her sister tried to threaten her life, that was just her sister’s way of telling her she loved her.

But to threaten her life in front of the others, if she kept following the script Monokuma would have to try and kill her because if he didn’t the other students may believe that Monokuma wouldn’t hurt them and that could lead to a revolt.

She didn’t know what to do, this, this wasn’t in the plan that Junko had told her about, what was going on?

Naegi was looking at her, he looked worried. She wondered if she looked pale from confusion luckily her classmates would just assume that was fear. “Wait a minute-,” she stammered. Had she done something wrong? Is that why Junko was changing the plan?

“I think that’s enough,” Kirigiri calmly said to her, it was down right unnerving how calm the detective could be despite the situation and the fact that Mukuro knew that the Super High School Level Detective was missing most of her memories and the fact that Kirigiri was keeping her memory loss a secret from the others. 

“Right now we’re his prisoners and it would be best if we didn’t risk the chance of Monokuma killing one of us for stepping out of line” Kirigiri said calmly.

“Better listen to her, it looks like she might be smarter than you” Monokuma said gleefully, well by the insult it didn’t look like her sister was too angry with her.

“Well now! I have something I’d like to give you to help you in your search for the killer! This little file has all the information I’ve gathered about the death in question. I like to call it…. THE MONOKUMA FILE!” Monokuma announced as they each received a file, oh right Junko had mentioned this file.

Mukuro already knew who the murderer was though so even if it was useful for the others it didn’t hold that much value to her. Her sister had excitedly woken her up last night so she could watch Sayaka Maizono try and kill Leon Kuwata only for the idol to end up dead herself.

Her sister had been so excited by the first murder and at the start of the despair their classmates would fall into.

“I mean, naturally you guys aren’t experts at this kind of thing, so you can only do so much with a corpse. So instead, I’ve gathered up everything I know about the circumstances and the cause of death.” Monokuma explained and she guesses that’s fair and evens the playing field for them. The only one among them who knew how to conduct an investigation was Kirigiri and not even Kirigiri herself knew that.

“What’s that? How do I know the cause of death, you ask?” Monokuma said rhetorically because no one had actually even spoken. “Cuz the surveillance cameras picked up the whole thing! I got to see it all go down!” yeah, so had she.

“Wait, so then…. You know who killed Sayaka Maizono?” Kirigiri asked and was met by the bears laughter “oh course I do! If I didn’t I couldn’t possibly pass as a fair and accurate judge during the trial, now could I?” Monokuma responded smugly.

“That’s a good point. The judge has to be able to make a proper decision. That’s…. somehow comforting.” Kirigiri said accepting the statement, “Are you seriously going to except it just like that?” the words flew out of her mouth towards the other girl, luckily she still managed to keep her act as her sister.

“Oh would you be quiet already,” Togami said, She barked back, “Hey what’s your problem?” 

“Oh it’s not Mr. Togami who has the problem but rather you” Celestia or rather Taeko Yasuhiro cut into the conversation “I told you before, if you don’t adapt you will die. In fact I’m sure you were most likely very close to dying with that scene you made earlier,” the other girl said simply.

“Why you….” They’d had a similar conversation like this earlier Junko knew they would from the persona Mukuro had been putting on and everything they knew about Celestia’s personality. It was simple with Junko’s analyst ability to predict what conversations Mukuro could have with their class mates and they planned accordingly, should she use some of the same lines again?

“Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation!” Monokuma announced cutting in, it looks like she didn’t have to worry.

That’s right she doesn’t have to worry all she has to do is trust in her brilliant sister. 

“After all, you don’t have any choice but to give it your best shot! Seriously, you don’t have any choice!” Monokuma said the last part facing her, probably for dramatic effect. Maybe Junko was angry with her after all, she felt herself flinch.

“Okay, so we’ll meet up for the class trial…. In a little while!” and with that Monokuma was gone, and she was left alone with her classmates. To be honest she was a bit nervous. She’s always had a bit of trouble fitting in with others and Junko hadn’t given her a script for this moment.

Though maybe she didn’t have to worry much, a silence hung over the group of students. Shock clear on nearly all of them, which was understandable considering everything they’d been going through. This was the start of the despair her sister had wanted to see in the their classmates.

No one said a word until Kirigiri spoke up, “Now’s no time to wallow in your depression” not that she was surprised. She should have guessed the detective would be the first to act during an investigation. “The worse thing we can do right now is loose all faith in each other. That would lead to the same disastrous result as having /total/ faith in everyone else.” Even without her memories Kirigiri was as logical as ever.

“Huh…?” Kuwata was the first respond; he must be on edge considering his life is the one on the line at most. He probably didn’t sleep well last night; it’s hard to sleep after your first kill after all. Well she knows it was hard for her.

“Cooperation is absolutely key at this point. Who you decide to trust or not is, of course, up to you.” Kirigiri reasoned, “Continuing to think and talk about the deceased certainly isn’t going to help anything” Celestia cut in.

“Are you serious!” she yelled because even with out a script she had to keep playing the role she had been given, she had to make her sister happy. “Yeah! S-saying stuff like that is just-!” Asahina said backing her up.

“How many times have I told you two? Anyone who can’t adapt…. Will DIE” Celestia said simply as if she were already bored of talking to them “Death is the only thing that awaits those who are unable or unwilling to adapt. If that happens, you only have yourselves to blame.” She said smiling at them.

“What an awful thing to say! Especially after what’s happened!” Asahina yelled back, “Yeah, stop saying messed up things!” Mukuro demanded. Ok maybe she could just play of Asahina and some of the others for a while until Junko gave her a new script.

“Right now, exposing the killer is the most important thing. Because if we don’t we will all die here.” Kirigiri cut into the conversation before it could escalate any further “…. She’s right. I will need to begin my search right away.” Togami seconded

“Either way, we can’t run away from the situation, so we have no choice but to move forward,” Ogami added. Huh it makes you wonder if the fighter is relieved. She knows Junko was threatening Ogami to commit at murder if none were happening and now that doesn’t seem to be necessary.

“Easier said then done hun,” she muttered hopping she wasn’t doing too terrible a job despite not being prepared for this situation. “We don’t have a better idea so we just have to do it I guess… What other choice do we have?” Asahina said most likely sticking with her friend.

Even with their memories erased the bond those two had still seemed to stick. She wondered if Naegi had any lingering feeling from their school lives with her, not that he would. She never got too close to him, besides she was pretending to be her sister right now anyway.

“No way in hell am I letting someone kill me! Alright lets do this!” Kuwata announced, to the others they probably thought that meant working on the investigation but he was probably talking about getting away with murder.

If he wanted to do it, he’d have to do a better job of staying calm “ah yeah, none of us here want to die you know?” she said to him which seemed to unnerve him. “Ah I can’t believe I have to go through this lets get it over with!” she complained.

“Before we start searching for Maizono’s killer, we need to decide what to do about securing the crime scene.” Kirigiri announced, “What do you mean?” Naegi asked.

He and Maizono were…. Close. Mukuro wondered if he was going to be ok, he had passed out when he found Maizono’s body. It was hard…… not to worry about him.

“You’re thinking of putting someone on guard duty so nobody can disturb the area aren’t you? After all, if the culprit decides to destroy the evidence, we’re pretty much screwed aren’t we now?” Togami said observantly.

“In that case, I don’t mind doing it. I don’t like having to think anyway. I’ll let you guys figure out who killed that chick” Owada putting himself forward. 

“Ok, then we can let Mondo look after the scene.” Asahina suggested though Togami quickly pointed out the flaw in that, “Well no we can’t just leave him there alone.” Though it seemed to piss Owada off “What? Why the hell not!?”

“Isn’t it obvious? If you were the culprit, what’s the first thing you would do? By volunteering for guard duty you’re in a position to destroy all the evidence you want.” Togami calmly explained shocking Owada who could only respond to what Togami had said with a halfhearted “Fuck you!”

“Like I don’t really think Owada did it or anything but Mr. glasses dork face has a point” she said speaking up, she remembered her sister had once used that name to describe Togami not to his face though but it couldn’t hurt to use it here, though of course Togami was taken aback by the statement.

“Glasses dork face!?” He gasped with an absolutely offended face. Ogami spoke up, “Fine, then I’ll stay there on guard as well. That way there is no problem.” The other girl said Yamada nodding at the suggestion, he said, “2-player co-op base defense with the two of them…. With their stats, their totally OP!” “Is that a way of saying their supper strong or something?” she asked, even after two years she barely understood the things he said sometimes and he only laughed slightly to himself in response to her question.

“Since we won’t be able to investigate, we’re putting our faith in the rest of you.” Ogami said with Asahina responding to her best friend “I- I’m still pretty freaked out, but… I’ll try” it was still weird that erasing memories hadn’t seemed to erase friendships, but she supposed they were the same people who had made friends with each other the first time, again she found her eyes straying over to Naegi.

He was looking at Celeste who had spoken up “Hmm? Makoto? Heh, heh…. So you finally noticed.” She asked coyly “Huh? Noticed what?” Kuwata spoke up, looks like if he wanted to survive this he’ll have to pay attention to how much progress the others made with the investigation.

Their classmates desperately trying to find the murderer, the murderer desperately trying not to be found out with both sides fighting for their lives. This was the game her sister had created and she was to make she that it ran properly.

“I was looking through the Monokuma file we received. And I noticed something very obvious, and very unusual.” Celeste noted drawing attention from the others, “Huh? What are you talking about?” Fujisaki asked timidly which was met with a slight smirk from Celeste.

“Go ahead, take a look. Notice anything interesting about where Sayaka died? She died in Makoto’s dorm” Celeste announced and wait what? She hadn’t known that the room Maizono died in was Naegi’s her sister had only shown her Maizono and Kuwata inside the room.

This, this was bad the others might think.

“She’s right!” Asahina exclaimed in surprise looking at the Monokuma file. “Then could it be?” Yamada said trembling a little; all at once everyone’s gaze was turning on Naegi. 

No, no, no Naegi is too kind to kill anyone they’re on the wrong track. It should be obvious that Naegi could never hurt any one. He was far to kind a person; she didn’t understand how they couldn’t see that. Naegi was probably the best person out of all of them how could they even think of him being a murderer?

When she saw Naegi’s pale face for some reason she felt her hands start to shake a little.

“H- Hold on a second! You’ve got it all wrong! F- For just one night, I…. I traded rooms with her. I did it because…. She was afraid” Naegi desperately tried to explain himself, this was all wrong he shouldn’t need to explain anything!

“Y- you expect us to b- believe that? Just tell us the truth!” Fukawa demanded, he was telling the truth! Naegi isn’t the kind of person who would lie! 

“Are we done talking?” Kirigiri asked “No they weren’t you can’t just leave everyone suspecting him, he didn’t do it”! Of course she didn’t say any of that out loud for some reason she couldn’t move or speak and so the detective simply continued speaking “We need to begin our investigation soon. At this point, we should split up.” From anyone else it might have sounded like a suggestion but from her she said it naturally. “We need to get to the bottom of this and find out who killed Sayaka. We’ll have to collect clues and form a foundation, then construct and argument to come to a final decision. If we get this wrong… Well, do I really have to say any more?” Kirigiri said her words hanging over the others once a detective always a detective she guesses.

“I’d rather you didn’t no….” Yamada was the first to speak surprisingly but what he said sounded weak and scared and with that Kirigiri turned away and left.

And others followed her out one by one first Togami, then Owada and Ogami though Owada left a threat for the culprit before he left.

“But… I mean, we’re not detectives or anything, y’know? And we’re gonna investigate a murder? How do we even do something like that?” Asahina asked in an unsure voice.

“We don’t r- really have to do anything in p- particular. W- we already know who k- killed Sayaka…” Fukawa said, “What… what are you implying?” Naegi asked with trepidation and Mukuro didn’t like where this conversation was going. 

“It was y- you.” There might be some irony to a serial killer accusing probably the most innocent person in the room of murder but Mukuro did not appreciate it.

“I’m telling you it wasn’t me!” Naegi defended himself “D- don’t come any c- closer! Are you g- gonna kill me next!?” Fukawa screamed why couldn’t she see Naegi would never hurt anyone?

“Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot. It’s not for sure Makoto’s guilty yet,” Asahina said, “That’s true we may as well at least check just to check” Yamada agreed with her. “W- well even if I wanted to, I couldn’t help inv- vestigate…..” Fukawa muttered.

“Wait, why not?” Kuwata asked, he shouldn’t act like he’s not happy he doesn’t have to worry about one more investigator. Damn it! It was his fault Naegi was being suspected.

“I’m not g- good with …. B- b- blood. All it takes is one glimpse and I b- black out” yeah no kidding, Junko had told her that the sight of blood can cause the change in personality, the last thing they all needed during an investigation was a serial killer running around though Junko might find it a little bit amusing.

“Well, whatever. I don’t think anyone was expecting much from you anyway. Alright I guess I better get going.” Kuwata said leaving the gym most likely to hide as much evidence against him as he could.

“W- wait, don’t go yet! You have to hear me out!” Naegi called as everyone left the gym looking at him in suspicion.

“Why do they have to suspect me!?” Naegi said to himself, she was standing behind him and he hadn’t noticed her. She was good at not being noticed, standing out was, that was what her sister was good at. Not her though, it’s like Junko said all she was good for was killing others.

But Naegi she didn’t suspect you. Even if she hadn’t watched Kuwata kill Maizono she still wouldn’t suspect him because she knew that if there was any truth in this world that Naegi would never kill someone.

It didn’t really matter to her if the others got executed for being unable to solve the trial but if the others were going to die, she didn’t want it to be because they suspected Naegi and also a part of her, didn’t want Naegi to die.

It looked like he was about to start his investigation, but with the others suspecting him it could be dangerous for him to be alone. She needed to get somewhere she could talk with Junko to discuss what she should do now but, she had time before the class trial so for now she should make sure Naegi didn’t get hurt.

\--------------------------------Investigation Start! ---------------------------------------------


	2. An Investigation

Naegi pulled out the Monokuma file and started reading through it; Mukuro read the file over his shoulder even though she knew more about the case than the file had to offer.

“Somehow, I have to fine the truth. So that we can all survive… And for Sayaka…. I have to find out why she was killed!” Naegi said to himself, “That’s the spirit!” she spoke up causing him to jump when he saw her. She gave him a cheshire cat like grin that her sister had taught her.

“Junko!? What are you doing?” He asked nervously, it was still going to take some time for her to get used to being called by her sisters name. “What? You were the one who said you wanted us to hear you out right?” she asked and the look on his face turned to one of hope and gratitude.

She knew it wasn’t him and she wanted him to know that she didn’t doubt him, but others were still in the gym and it might look suspicious if she was the only one who didn’t suspect him though.

“You mean you believe me?” Naegi asked, “Well I don’t know kind of, but if you are the murderer it might not be a good idea to leave you on your own you know?” she said, and sorry Naegi. She’ll definitely prove it wasn’t you.

“Oh right…” he said with a sigh before regaining a determined look. “I really don’t want to do this, but I guess… We have no choice,” she said and Naegi nodded at her as if he understood some imaginary sentiment he thought she was trying to say.

She followed him round as Naegi conducted his investigation “So where should we head to first Naegi?” she asked though it was pretty obvious what anyone would say “Well first of all, we should head to the scene of the crime- my room. We won’t make any progress with out investigating there” he responded to her.

“Alright lead the way,” she said stepping out of his way, once they arrived at his room he started looking at the state of everything. Both Maizono and Kuwata were fighting for their lives so it’s not a surprise things ended in such a mess.

“Hey look at this broken sword, looks like someone used it,” she said noting the weapon Kuwata had used to defend himself. She had seen the crime take place so maybe just maybe she could give Naegi what he needed to prove his innocence. “It’s the replica sword I brought to my room for self defense but does this mean it was… used to attack someone?” he said as if he didn’t like that idea.

She gave a thoughtful look “well it is taken out of its sheath right? Why else would it be like that unless to use it? Shame though this is supposed to be for decoration” she noted, “hey Junko wait, some of the gold coating has come off some of the blade and the handle. Yeah the handle especially is missing a lot of it’s coating…. I remember the coating sticks to you even if you just touch it a little bit” Naegi noted thoughtfully.

“So that means that whoever used this must have gotten some of the coating on them right?” she asked “wait Naegi this might be an important clue!” she cheered him on and his expression turned from one of thoughtfulness to embarrassment.

“I don’t know about that Junko, it’s just one thing.” He muttered, “right then we better find more stuff to prove you’re innocence! Maybe we should find the sheath for this thing?” she said as they continued to look round the room.

When they did find the sheath Naegi had a confused look on him “huh?” he muttered, “what is it?” she asked curiously, “this has some scratches on it. They must have been made with something sharp.” he said, looking back those scratches were probably made with Maizono’s knife “something sharp…. You mean like the murder weapon?” she asked causing him to suddenly look up “yeah maybe” 

His thoughtful look returned “but how’d the sheath get scratched up in the first place? I mean even if the sword was used to attack someone why is the sheath damaged if your going to attack someone you’d take the sword out of the sheath right? A heavy sheath like this would only get in the way, it could just slide off in the middle of the fight so why are there scratches on it?” he asked though the question was more to no one in particular.

Nonetheless she gave a thoughtful look doing her best to look like Junko did whenever she was thinking something over. “Well what if it was used for defense instead or maybe someone grabbed it without really thinking?” she offered “what do you mean by that?” he asked causing her to shrug “I don’t know man I’m just throwing out some idea’s what do you think? Swing and a miss?” maybe she shouldn’t use baseball metaphors when the culprit is the Super High School Level Baseball player but she needed to leave as many clues as she could.

She directed her gaze to the scratches on the walls “man though your room is a mess” she observed, “Isn’t that evidence of a struggle? It looks like there must have been some kind of fight in my room… Damn it! I was right in the other room if only I heard something!” he said clutching his fist.

Before she knew what she was doing her hand was on his shoulder, maybe pretending to be her sister was letting her act more confidently? “Hey it’s not your fault ok?” she reassured him as Ogami who was standing guard at the crime scene spoke up.

“Yes it would not have been possible for you to hear anything” the other girl said confusing Naegi “huh?” “Don’t you remember? All of our rooms are completely soundproof. So something could happen in the room right next to you, and there’s no way you could know.” Ogami said while she nodded.

“Yeah that’s right, we tested it and everything!” she said trying to reassure Naegi.

“Perhaps this was another of Monokuma’s strategies, creating an ideal setting for murder” Ogami noted thoughtfully while Naegi remained quiet, even though he had no control over what happened he was still blaming himself that was the kind of guy he was.

However the determined look returned to him eyes and he returned to looking for clues to the murder.

A part of her whished she could have said more to him so that he wouldn’t have blamed himself though.

“Hey what are you looking at?” she asked him trying to distract herself from her thoughts, he was staring intently at a key on the ground.

“This key has my name on it so it must be by room key…” he responded to her though it was clear he was thinking about something, “Well we are in your room so wouldn’t be like I don’t know make sense for your key to be in here?” she asked as innocently as she could.

“Well yeah but when Sayaka and I switched rooms, we switched keys too. So Sayaka would have had the key here in my room the entire time.” He responded thoughtfully. 

“I guess that makes sense but does that mean you still have the key to her room then?” she questioned but as she was doing so it looked like Makoto suddenly thought of something.

“Wait if my key was in here the whole time then how did the killer get into the room in the first place?” He asked to no one in particular though that didn’t stop her from answering.

“Maybe she forgot to lock the door?” she offered to him though that wasn’t the real answer the murder was invited in by the victim herself and it looked like Naegi didn’t accept her answer anyway.

“No, that seems impossible she promised she wouldn’t open the door for any one. Not even me. After saying that, there’s no way she would have forgotten to lock it, or open it for any reason.” He said and the look in his eyes showed her he was probably remembering the last conversation he had with the idol.

“Well… maybe she dropped the key, somewhere and someone else grabbed it or something?” she offered because while she knew he was going to find out that Maizono probably was trying to frame him for murder she didn’t want him to have to face the feeling of betrayal just yet.

“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s possible either Sayaka was in here when we switched rooms. And with how scared she was, she wouldn’t have gone walking around so she couldn’t have dropped it….” He replied.

“Jeez then I don’t know, man how am I supposed to help prove your innocence if you keep shooting down all my ideas?” she complained using the same tone Junko used whenever she wasn’t getting something she wanted fast enough.

“Oh, I’m sorry but really having you here is a big help.” Naegi said to her as she sighed “yeah but I don’t feel like I’m doing much” she continued causing Naegi to shake his head.

“Are you kidding me I’m glad I have someone to bounce idea’s off of and doing this with someone else is a lot better than doing it alone!” he reassured her before giving her a smile, it reminded her of the first time they met. For some reason his smile always made something in her chest feel…. Different.

“I’m glad to know that there’s at least one person who might not think I did it you know?” he said to her with his smile. A kind, genuine smile that was for her.

“Thanks.” She said turning away from him as she felt her face getting hotter.

Mukuro was starting to feel really embarrassed but before she could think too deeply on it Naegi called to her “hey Junko could you take a look at this lint roller?” he asked as she walked over to stand beside him.

“What about it?” she questioned, “well it looks like there’s way less than there was before. Did Sayaka see how dirty my room was and decide to clean up a little?” Naegi wondered causing her to smile to herself.

“We haven’t been here that long and you don’t seem like a messy guy so I doubt your room was so bad that she felt compelled to clean it. Maybe the murder used it?” she offered thinking it was about time she gave him a relevant clue.

Kuwata had used that to clean up some of the crime scene so maybe this could be what Naegi needed.

What she said seemed to get Naegi’s attention as he thought her statement over “maybe but the rest of the room is a mess so why bother cleaning up and if they did use it why not clean up everything else?” he wondered aloud as she gave him a shrug in response.

Naegi started looking round the room and opening draws it became apparent that he was stalling something, and as they got closer to the bathroom she could see what.

He started talking to Mondo about the tool kits as she watched the biker from the side, she was worried that Naegi being the prime suspect might have a hard from their classmates, one of the reasons she was following him but so far things have been going ok.

Apparently none of the guys have used their tool kits yet, except of course Kuwata but right now only three people knew that. Herself, Junko and Kuwata of course.

She smiled to herself, it might be unlikely but she felt that Naegi might be able to use the tool kit to point to the real murder.

“Ya know I realized something while I was on guard duty.” Owada spoke up suddenly to her and Naegi, “the killer could’ve already destroyed some evidence right? Before anyone found the body, I mean. There’s a trash room here in the dorms right? They could have tossed some stuff in there”.

“Y- yeah that’s definitely possible” Naegi agreed “yeah but it’s kind of obvious that would happen but it’s still super important to guard anything the murder missed right?” Mukuro added.

“That Dirty Bastard!” Owada yelled causing some surprise from her and Naegi, “Anyone who raises their hand to a woman is scum that deserves death. That’s what my brother taught me. So if I ever find the son of a bitch that did this, I’m gonna pound his god damn face in.” Owada said threateningly 

“But like isn’t Monokuma gonna kill the culprit first if we find them?” she questioned in a bored tone which to be honest might not be the best for this situation but it ended up slipping out. “A- and what if it was a girl that did it?” Naegi asked nervously.

“That bastard will deserve anything that bear does to him but I still what to punish him myself and if it’s a girl… That’ll get sorted out when the time comes.” Owada said before going back to his guard duty.

She noticed Kirigiri looking at them and she returned the glare from habit. Naegi noticing the two girls glaring at each other seemed to take it as a cue that he should go talk to the detective.

“Hey Kyoko” he said awkwardly as the detective went back to her investigation. “What are you doing?” Naegi tried to ask Kirigiri, “Isn’t it obvious?” the detective replied coldly, “Well not really no.” Mukuro spoke up not really liking Kirigiri directing a cold tone towards Naegi.

The detective sighed, “I’m searching” Kirigiri explained, “Searching?” Naegi asked curiously. “Did you loose a contact or something?” he asked in a slightly worried voice.

Oh that’s right even if it was over the most trivial things Naegi would always worry about others. It was one of the many great things about him.

His kindness.

It was the reason why he was one of the only people she could find herself letting her guard down around even if it was only a bit. Though that was more of a cause for concern.

Kirigiri didn’t respond to Naegi simply continuing to look around before standing up “Are you a clean freak?” Kirigiri asked Naegi causing some surprise from him, “Huh? No I don’t think so. But what?” he began to ask as Kirigiri suddenly turned away from him to look around the room another time. “Interesting,” the detective muttered to herself.

“Just as I suspected, there’s something very unusual about your room,” Kirigiri noted, “Hey don’t be rude, his rooms fine for being a crime scene and all!” she stated, “Unusual? What do you mean?” Naegi asked.

“I’m not being rude. I’ve searched this room from one corner to another and I didn’t find one single strand of hair” Kirigiri responded to them both, “really?” Naegi asked seeming confused. “Not one hair from the victim, and not one hair from you, even though you’ve been living here.” Kirigiri noted.

“Come to think of it Naegi didn’t you say your lint roller looked like it had been used?” Mukuro asked causing him to nod “Yeah, it looked like it had been used but I never touched it”.

“You don’t think the murderer used it to like clean up their own hair?” she asked him. “Very interesting… So your room didn’t have a single hair in it and someone used your lint roller without your knowledge. In other words someone other than you came in and scrubbed your room clean.” Kirigiri noted

“Well yeah! It was definitely the murderer I mean they’d have to try and get rid of as much evidence that they were here as possible right?” Mukuro stated causing Kirigiri to turn her attention to her.

“Enoshima can I ask you something?” Kirigiri question, the detective didn’t wait for her response and simply moved along with her questioning. “Before it seemed as though you were one of the least accepting of our situation yet now you are taking an active role in the investigation, why is that?” Kirigiri asked and crap.

Before she’d been going by a script her sister had given her but ever since the sudden change in plan she’d been improvising while also worry about Naegi but she could only do so much by trying to mimic her sister.

Her sister could go it but how would she be able to lie to the Super High School Level Detective?

She looked away not making eye contact as she answered. “We just got to do this trial thing right? We don’t even really have a choice. And every one is trying to get through it, Sayaka is already dead and I, I don’t really want to die either.” 

“I see, interesting so you’ve decided to except the situation.” Kirigiri noted before walking away.

Mukuro stared after her not sure what to make of the encounter, had the detective figured her out already? Had she made a mistake? “Junko are you ok?” Naegi asked as his voice pulled her from her thoughts.

“Yeah but geez what’s her problem?” she complained trying fit into the persona Junko had given her.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean anything bad,” Naegi defended causing her to roll her eyes, “Geez your too nice, that’s so cute!” she commented causing him to blush.

She gave another scan of the room when she noticed Naegi’s gaze repeatedly shifting towards the bathroom.

Oh.

“You really don’t have to go in there you know,” the words suddenly coming out of her mouth, he didn’t deserve to have to see blood, he didn’t deserve having to see his friends dead body.

He didn’t deserve any of this.

He looked at her with some confusion and for some reason she kept on talking, “she was your friend right? And her body is still there you don’t have to force yourself to see that.”

“It’s ok, I have to go in because she was my friend and I, I can’t afford to freeze up now,” he told her with a look of hesitation and determination in his eyes.

She watched him swallow as he forced himself to go in. She almost followed him in but well it’s not like she had the right. She was partly responsible for all this after all considering she was helping her sister’s plan.

It’s not like she was regretting anything, she’d seen death countless times, and she’d caused death countless times. She didn’t think her classmates deserved this but that didn’t matter all that mattered was making her sister happy.

But she couldn’t help wishing Naegi didn’t have to go through this, it was fun being in a class with him. And everyone else, it would have been nice if it could have lasted a little longer.

Mukuro waited outside the bathroom while Naegi did his investigation of Maizono’s bathroom, when Kirigiri walked up to talk to her again she almost wished she had followed him inside though.

“Aren’t you going to follow him in?” the detective asked the soldier. “I’d rather not be around a dead body thanks” Mukuro told her in a slightly harsh tone before looking away and continuing “besides…. This feels more like something Naegi has to do on his own you know?”

To her surprise though Kirigiri was nodding, “yes it does, he should be the one to uncover the truth behind her death” Kirigiri stated causing Mukuro to face her directly in surprise.

“What do you mean by that?” she found herself asking the detective as Naegi came out of the bathroom a thoughtful look on his face.

“It looks like you found it, right Makoto? The bloody numbers that is most likely Sayaka Maizono’s dying message” Kirigiri told Makoto ignoring Mukuro’s question.

“I’ve never seen something written in blood before, if Sayaka really wrote that it’s as if she wrote it with life itself.” He said causing a look from both Mukuro and the other girl.

“Wow that was really deep,” Mukuro said before she thought of anything else, “do you often talk like an aspiring poet?” Kirigiri asked.

“But the numbers she wrote what do they mean?” Naegi asked causing Mukuro to interrupt “whoa there, I’m not surprised that she wrote a dying message those sort of things happen in murder mysteries all the time but you said she wrote numbers?” she asked as Naegi nodded 

“Yeah 11037 though I have no idea what that could possibly mean.” He told her, “that’s weird usually the victim writes the killers name or something” she observed, when she watched the video of Maizono’s murder she could tell that the idol has been doing something in her final moments but what was the point of apparently writing down some numbers?

“The way she wrote the number make me think she wanted to use her body to block them. If she wrote them in that location, while she was sitting the way we found her…. It means that she must have wrote them by turning her hand toward the wall” Kirigiri noted though it was clear the detective was mostly talking to herself, working through the facts of the case to form her own deductions.

Yet Mukuro found herself nodding because she had seen Maizono do basically just that in her final moments.

“If you were to write in that position do you know what the result would be?” Kirigiri asked them suddenly.  
“…The result?” Naegi responded in a confused tone, “it’d be like upside down or something right?” she chimed in as that was usually the case with messages you had to write behind your back, as a mercenary there had been a few rare instances where she needed to do something like that and so she expected that to be the result.

“Perhaps” Kirigiri noted, “Is that wrong? I thought that was a good idea.” Naegi defended her. 

“Enoshima, I believe he needs to uncover the mystery of this case himself. Otherwise the case will end and he’ll remain unconvinced”, Kirigiri said to her causing the confused look on her face to be genuine, Naegi had a similar look of confusion on his face as well.

Naegi might not understand what the detective means but it could be possible that Kirigiri figured out that the idol probably wanted to frame Naegi for murder, if Mukuro was a bit more petty she might break the rule about not thinking ill of the dead due to Maizono taking advantage of Naegi’s kind nature.

If Kirigiri figured this out she might be saying that Naegi needs to figure out the case for himself so he can accept what happened…

“There’s one more thing I want to ask you about Makoto,” Kirigiri said catching Mukuro’s attention and snapping her out of her thoughts. “Do you know how the door to your bathroom got broken?” Kirigiri asked and Naegi’s look of confusion intensified.

“Oh you mean how it gets stuck,” Naegi said causing some shock from Kirigiri as Naegi explained, “yeah I guess I’m the only one but the door doesn’t fit the frame quite right, when I first tried it I thought the door was locked but once you learned the trick it opens no problem”

Mukuro didn’t say anything and merely thought over what she knew, she knew Naegi’s bathroom door had a tendency to get stuck, they had to fix it multiple times before she and Junko took over the school and she knows that Kuwata forced the door open with a toolkit, most likely thinking that this was Maizono’s room and that the bathroom door was locked like she had when she watched the footage that Junko showed her.

Mukuro took a breath before she spoke, Kirigiri was right Naegi needed to solve this case himself all she could do was point them in the right direction.

“Huh? Really? I thought she was talking about how your doorknob was all messed up,” Mukuro said catching his and Kirigiri’s attention.

“Yes that was what I was noting, so the door doesn’t quite fit the frame huh?” the other girl said thoughtfully.

“Huh? The doorknob?” Naegi asked them, “Yeah it’s all messed up. I think it got messed up in the struggle like the rest of your room.” Mukuro responded.

“That’s an interesting theory though I’m surprised you didn’t notice it Makoto, try closing the bathroom door. I’m sure you’ll see right away what I’m talking about.” Kirigiri advised.

The two girls watched as Naegi followed Kirigiri’s instructions and looked surprised at what he found “the doorknobs practically about to fall off! Why is it like this?” Naegi said with some slight shock.

“It could have been damaged in the struggle like Enoshima said though more likely it may have also been unscrewed by a screwdriver or something similar.” Kirigiri noted

“Ugh, why is everyone shooting down my idea’s today?” she complained causing the detective to roll her eyes. “If you look closely you’ll see that this was intentional” Kirigiri said to her.

“What!? It was intentional!? Why would someone want to do that!?” Naegi questioned.

“Probably to get in right? I mean if someone was trying to kill me I’d try and hide so that’s probably what Sayaka was doing in the bathroom.” She offered causing the detective to nod “I guess maybe they were trying to get the door to unlock and ended up breaking the whole thing” Kirigiri said.

“But my bathroom doesn’t have a lock on it. Only the girls bathroom can lock right?” Naegi asked, “well yeah I mean unless the killer thought that the door locked or something” she stated while Kirigiri stood lost in thought before finally speaking.

“Makoto I have just one more question for you” the detective said gaining Naegi’s focus, “you mentioned earlier that your bathroom door would get stuck, correct?” Kirigiri asked causing Naegi to nod and the detectives gaze intensified.

“Did you tell anyone about that?” Kirigiri asked, “you mean other than us just now?” she chimed in sarcastically while Naegi thought over Kirigiri’s question.

“Well I did tell Sayaka about it last night, when we switched rooms” Naegi answered. “So what your saying is only you and Sayaka knew about it? Interesting” Kirigiri, said with a slight smirk on her face.

“Well Monokuma probably knew as well,” she said suddenly causing the other two to look at her. Probably not the best move, she brought unnecessary attention to herself.

She shrugged before she continued talking, “what that bear is always watching as like one of my more creepy fans, plus he’s supposed to know everything going on here since he’s the one who trapped us, isn’t that much of a stretch to think he’d know about a faulty door” which caused Kirigiri to nod.

“I suppose that would be true,” the detective noted “well Naegi?” the other girl motioned to him catching him by slight surprise.

“Oh um, yeah Monokuma knew too” Naegi said stammering a bit, Mukuro gave him a grin and a peace sign “has any one told you your super cute when your nervous?” she asked rhetorically causing Naegi to look embarrassed.

“Regardless, it’s doubtful that Monokuma would have given that information away” Kirigiri noted and at that moment as if waiting a Monokuma appeared.

“No Sir! I didn’t tell any one else about the faulty door!” the Monokuma said causing a surprise from everyone in the room at his sudden appearance.

“What are you doing here?” Naegi demanded and the Monokuma shrugged “well if it’s for the investigation I’ll happily show up, but don’t rely on me too much! You can’t expect me to hold your hand constantly!” the bear stated.

“That’s all right you’ve answered the question we had at this moment you can leave,” Kirigiri stated “whoa I just showed up but I better leave you kids to the investigation” Monokuma said before turning to Mukuro.

“You all look like your having fun after all” he said before leaving suddenly. “Yeah right this isn’t fun at all and you know it,” Naegi said under his breath.

What was that? Was Junko angry with her? Was she doing a terrible job acting without a script? No one had really said anything to her to show that she was acting strange really, so she thought that she might be doing ok.

Monokuma said that they couldn’t expect the bear to hold their hand constantly, was that Junko’s way of telling her to be more independent or was she overthinking things?

She needed to get back to her room so she could be alone and talk to her sister. But she wasn’t ready to leave Naegi alone just yet.

“Well I believe that clears that up,” Kirigiri said turning away from them. “Wait, what clears what up? I’m so lost…” Naegi called after the detective as the other girl left.

“Geez that was a bit rude of her don’t you think?” Mukuro complained while Naegi sigh, “I’m sure she’s trying her hardest with the investigation” he said, “yeah but she seems to be getting too into it don’t you think?” Mukuro joked; it made sense though Kirigiri was in her element.

“Yeah I know what you mean.” Naegi agreed. “Ok well then what next Sherlock?” she asked Naegi causing him some surprise “Sherlock?” he muttered, and she tilted her head to the side, “well this is an investigation right? Besides we don’t know exactly how much time Monokuma is giving us so we she probably use every second we can” she suggested causing Naegi to nod.

“Yeah, your right” he said a determined look in his eyes once again. Before the tragedy it was rare to see such a look on Naegi’s face but in a way it kind of fit him.

“Well I’m not to sure what to do in an investigation but we’ve already given my room a good look so it might be good to look someplace else” Naegi said as she nodded. “Sounds good, maybe we should look for where the murder weapon came from?” she suggested and Naegi nodded “your right good plan…” though he was agreeing with her it looked like there was something else on his mind.

She could push to see what it was but… Did she really have the right?

“Are you ok?” she asked suddenly before she could stop herself catching him by surprise, “oh um yeah, I was just thinking about something. Any way there are probably lots of places we can look at and we should probably talk to the others, if they’ll talk to me that is….” He said his voice trailing off towards the end.

“It’s ok” she reassured without thinking causing him to look up, “huh?”. Crap that might have sounded too much like her self and not her sister. Ok just keep calm it was just two words you can do this.

“I mean I’m here to back you up! So I’m sure you’ll be fine talking to them, I mean Kirigiri didn’t have a problem and if there is a problem then I can talk to them for you.” She said quickly as Naegi nodded.

“Yeah your right, I’m sure things will work out. Thank you this would be a lot harder to do alone” he said as he smiled at her again. It looks like she hadn’t messed up but even if she had, it might have been worth it if it meant seeing that smile. “Alright lets go!” She said heading towards the door as she felt her face heat up.

“So where do you think we should head first?” Naegi asked once they were out in the hallway as she pretended to think a bit. She already had an idea of where the should probably go…

How would Junko to this?

“Oh I know! Lets head to the trash room!” she exclaimed suddenly, “huh? Why there?” Naegi asked. “Well it’s a good place for the culprit to get rid of evidence right?” she stated simply causing Naegi to nod. “All right lets go!” she said taking his hand and pulling him along.

Oh they were holding hands right now… Junko had a habit of pulling people along when she wanted to talk to them so she’d done it on impulse when thinking what her sister would do.

Mukuro was suddenly painfully aware of their hands at that moment, she hoped hers wasn’t clammy or anything. Naegi’s hands were soft; in her days as a mercenary she’d seen hands that were rough and injured from battle and her sister’s hands were perfect of course.

But Naegi’s hands were soft and warm; it was almost like her hand was wrapped in a comforting blanket.

Eventually they came outside the trash room and she let go of his hand. Part of her was glad, it was a bit embarrassing but another part of her wished the moment had lasted longer.

Inside the garbage room Naegi was looking at the gate, “It looks like there’s a gate here so there’s no way to get past” He observed calling her out of her thoughts.

Right, she had to focus. She couldn’t make her sister upset with her.

“Huh? Really? There’s no way to get past?” she questioned, at that moment Monokuma appeared again.

“It’s the end of the line. The trash room…. This is where all the trash in the school eventually winds up.” Monokuma said before laughing.

“Boy, what where you two doing alone in here huh? I hope you two were planning on keeping everything PG” the bear joked causing shock from both her and Naegi.

“What, what are you talking about?” the words blurted out of her mouth in shock, she sounded more like herself than her Junko persona but she wasn’t really thinking about that at the moment as Monokuma continued laughing.

“Oh don’t think your headmaster didn’t see you two holding hands in the hallway” at that statement Mukuro was sure her face was red, oh course her sister had noticed that.

“That, That was,…” she stammered as Naegi suddenly spoke up trying to change the subject.

Huh? His face looked kind of red too…

“How do you get this gate open?” he asked when Monokuma started speaking again. “No! No! No! No entry beyond this point! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed in!”

“Huh? But what if this is for the investigation?” she protested, feeling like she should say something, this was confusing her sisters plan made it sound like the students could go practically anywhere in the area they had if it was for the investigation “No! No! No! No entry beyond this point! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed in!” Monokuma repeated

Naegi sighed, “Who’s on cleaning duty?” he asked instead Monokuma just repeated himself “No! No! No! No entry beyond this point! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed in!”

Did, did Junko make a recording and put the thing on loop? That sort of sounds like something her sister would do, perhaps she set it up for a Monokuma to appear and say that whenever someone who wasn’t on cleaning duty came to the garbage room.

“Let’s just go look for the person on cleaning duty.” Naegi said in a tiered tone of voice, she didn’t think Naegi could actually get fed up with someone but she guessed what Monokuma was doing right now was a bit tiering.

“No! No! No! No entry beyond this point! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed in!” Monokuma repeated one last time as they left the room.

“So I think it was Yamada who was on garbage duty, have any idea where he is?” she asked while Naegi shook his head, “No but I’m sure we’ll find him if we look around for a little bit” he said optimistically as he began walking down the hall.

It was nice that he found even a bit of optimism with everything that was going on. Of course her sister wanted to crush that but for now it felt right that Naegi had hope even for just a little while.

As they walked down the hall they passed Naegi’s room causing him to stop, “huh?” he said in confusion looking at the nameplate on the door and then went to check the plate on the door next to it. 

“What up?” she asked as Naegi looked at the doors in confusion, “the nameplates on the doors of mine and Sayaka’s rooms have been switched, who would do that?” he said in confusion.

That was weird though if Maizono really was trying to frame Naegi then her money would be on the dead idol. Not that she could tell Naegi that so instead she just shrugged.

“Hey you still have the key to Sayaka’s room right?” she asked as Naegi nodded “yeah why?” “Do you think there’s a clue in there or something? Like maybe the murder left a threatening note or something like that” she suggested as Naegi thought over what she said, “I guess there’s no harm in checking, besides… there’s something in there I’ve been meaning to get” Naegi said, saying the last part almost to himself as he unlocked the door.

She pretended to look round the room when she noticed Naegi pick something up from the trash, “Is that Sayaka’s motive DVD thing?” she asked and Naegi nodded “Sayaka got really upset after seeing whatever was in that video…” he said looking at the case.

She already knew what was on that tape so she’s not surprised by how upset the idol got.

“Well yeah those tapes were pretty upsetting you know… Do you think it’s a clue?” she asked as Naegi turned to her.

“It might not be directly related to the case but I still think it’s worth checking out” he said before turning in the direction of no one in particular “I’m sorry, Sayaka… I need to borrow this DVD” Naegi said out loud causing her to give a giggle, she tried to make it sound much like Junko’s as possible.

“Wow your such a gentlemen” she teased “but I think it’s ok, I think out of everyone here you have the biggest right to see Sayaka’s DVD” she told him causing him some surprise.

“You think so…” he said looking at the DVD as she began to reassure him, “yeah, you were the one closest to her… and I’m sure she’d have shown you anyway eventually” she offered though only half of that statement was probably true however it seemed to work for Naegi as he was nodding at her. 

“I hope so,” he said putting the DVD away, “well I’ve given this place a good once over, how ‘bout we blow this pop stand?” she said trying to lighten the mood. Junko was better with people than her, it was funny she could interact with others better pretending to be her sister than she could when she was herself.

Naegi smiled and nodded at her again as they left the room and coincidently spotted Yamada.

Naegi started asking Yamada about opening the gate to the trash room so they could investigate it with Togami eventually joining in on their conversation. She guesses there are others who also want to investigate anywhere you could use to get rid of evidence. 

While Naegi was talking to the guys she stood off to the side to collect her thoughts, they must be starting to run out of time before the class trail starts. So fact she thinks she might have done a good job working without a script but she can’t keep this up.

To be honest she didn’t think she could pull off pretending to be her sister even with a script. 

Before the class trial starts she needed to get alone to talk to her sister so she knew what to do next. She really hadn’t been expecting to participate in the class trials. She had no idea how she was actually going to manage it.

But Junko probably did, her sister always had a plan. She just needed to wait for her sister to tell her what to do.

“Hey Junko,” Kuwata said suddenly pulling her from her thoughts, she fought the urge to glare at him “sup?” she asked shooting him a smile.

It had to be the fakest smile she’s done yet.

“Is it true your investigating with Makoto?” he asked as she nodded.

“Yep, I’m not really sure I can do the whole investigation thing y’know? So isn’t better to tag along with someone?” She asked faking enthusiasm.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense but are you sure your ok following round Makoto?” Kuwata asked “What do you mean by that?” she asked and she didn’t mean for her tone to darken but that’s what happened.

Crap and he noticed it too because it looked like he began to go a bit on the defensive. “Well it’s just, he’s the prime suspect for murder,” he began before she angrily cut him off.

“And haven’t you heard of innocent until proven guilty!” She said angrily, normally she wouldn’t get this angry unless someone was threatening Junko but now she was almost yelling.

Naegi would never hurt someone and for some reason it upset her if someone even implied that he would. It didn’t make sense but…. Naegi was the kindest person she knew.

“Um Junko,” Naegi spoke up before she could work herself up even more.

Crap she really messed up just now hadn’t she?

“Yamada said we could check out the garbage room,” Naegi mumbled timidly. “Great lets go, it’s getting kind of lame over here any way” Mukuro said trying to save face slipping back into her sister’s persona.

She didn’t say anything as she followed Naegi and Yamada to the trash room. After Yamada had opened the gate and they all walked in Yamada started speaking as if he suddenly realized something “Mr. Naegi surely you aren’t planning to use the trash room to destroy evidence are you? You fiend! You planned this all along!” he accused in what almost sounded like a betrayed tone.

She didn’t get as angry as she did with Kuwata, maybe because Yamada wasn’t trying to frame Naegi for a murder he committed, maybe because she always had trouble taking Yamada seriously anyway.

Or maybe she was just tired.

“Huh? Are you serious?” she asked in an annoyed tone. “Seriously use your brain, Naegi doesn’t have any evidence to destroy” Mukuro continued as Yamada looked confused.

“He doesn’t? Miss Enoshima how can you be so sure” Yamada asked “I can be sure because I’ve been with him during this entire investigation! Besides use your head even if Naegi or I had any evidence to destroy we wouldn’t do it with some one else watching us!” she said telling him off.

She was almost close to yelling at Yamada when Naegi spoke up.

“I just wanted to see if the actual killer had tried to destroy any evidence or not!” Naegi defended himself. “But what if the ‘Actual killer’ is YOU, isn’t it? You want to see if you left anything behind!” Yamada accused.

“Yamada if you don’t shut up I think I might punch you,” she said causing him to panic. “Oh no!” he then started making some references to either games or anime or something, honestly she couldn’t really follow any of it.

Naegi looked like he had given up trying to make sense of Yamada and was investigating the garbage room. “You find anything?” she asked him as he was looking at the incinerator “Yeah I think so, it’s weird that the incinerator is on right now” Naegi noted.

“Do you see the green and yellow buttons next to the mouth of the incinerator?” Yamada suddenly asked pausing his panic to enter their conversation. “It’s a pretty simple setup. You press the green button to get it going, and the yellow button to turn it off,” Yamada proudly explained.

“Well thanks for explaining it and all but we could have probably figure that one out ourselves” she noted and yep she definitely wasn’t acting bitter about his accusations towards Naegi, clearly.

He didn’t respond to her bitter remark though as ne noticed the state of the incinerator “Huh?! Someone turned the incinerator on!” he said in surprise. “What are you so worked up about didn’t you leave it on or something,” she asked even though she knew he hadn’t.

Yamada shook his head quickly “No! I am quite certain it was off last time I was down here! Perhaps it was the work of a fairy…” he said half heartedly trying to explain it.

“Hifumi! Do you realize what you just said!?” Naegi exclaimed. Maybe Naegi was also getting tired.

“The fairy?” Yamada said in confusion and Mukuro couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “…No you said that last time you were here, the incinerator was off right?” Naegi asked as Yamada nodded “Ah yes. About that there can be no mistake. If I’ve got one thing going for me, it’s my memory!” he said proudly.

“Lame” she said for no other reason than that would be what Junko would probably say. Though she thought it was a bit funny that she was saying it in spite of everything considering all she had going for her was her ability to kill.

“Yesterday, as soon as I was appointed, I came down here to check the place out. It definitely wasn’t on then. I haven’t been back to the trash room since and since I’m the only one with the key to open the gate it should be impossible for the incinerator to be on. And yet….” Yamada continued having not heard her.

“Do not say a fairy did it” she interrupted him she turned to Naegi and saw him looking at the incinerator. Throughout their investigation it almost seemed as if Naegi was collecting pieces of information to be used later.

They ended up finding a broken crystal ball and a piece of burnt cloth. All of which Naegi decided could be used for evidence of some kind. He looked a bit disheartened that it couldn’t pin the murder on any one person and she tried to cheer him up and encourage him but she wasn’t very good at things like that.

Eventually they were pretty much done looking round the room when Yamada started speaking up again “this whole thing is quite strange, quite strange indeed. When I was here last the incinerator was off, and those glass shards and burnt clothes weren’t there. What does it all mean Mr. Naegi!? Will you be confessing soon!?” 

Mukuro was starting to wonder if her sister would go thorough a class trial if she murdered someone.

“Why me?” Naegi asked in a confused and tiered voice “Everyone already knows you did it! All the mysteries are being solved one by one!” Yamada declared as Mukuro decided to speak up again.

“No one knows anything! And Mr. Comic book I don’t know what the hell you read but I always thought the first suspect is never the culprit!” she yelled at him and Yamada looked shocked.

Not about getting yelled though “How could I have been so blind to miss such an important detail! You never make the first suspect the culprit that is terrible plot work that I will not allow! Mr. Naegi I owe you an apology!” he said quickly as Naegi tried to calm him down and assure him it was ok.

“Geez it’s like he’s trying to live out one of his fantasies” she complained once she and Naegi had left the garbage room. Naegi smiled at her “yeah I know what you mean,” he said in agreement as she found herself looking at his smile.

“Hey do you think we should head to the dinning room next?” Naegi asked shaking her from her train of thought.

“Why? Are you hungry?” she asked as Naegi shook his head. “No it’s just that I think that might be where the murder weapon came from,” he said and she nodded.

“Makes sense ok lets go!” she said but found herself frowning as soon as Naegi wasn’t looking; he didn’t get a chance to eat much at breakfast and now that she thought about it he’d been through a lot it wasn’t good for him to be walking around on a practically empty stomach. She was starting to get worried so since they were heading to the dinning hall anyway she should try to make him eat something there.

When they got there they found Asahina in the dining room “Hina are you investigating the dinging hall?” Naegi asked when they got close enough to talk to her.

“Oh, no I’m just taking a break. Actually I’ve been taking a break since we started” Asahina admitted “This is all a first for me, ya know? I don’t have the first clue what I should be doing,” she said.

“I know what you mean” Naegi said agreeing with her “Yeah I don’t really know what I’m doing either, I’ve kinda just been following Naegi aground,” Mukuro added though she did understand how she was feeling, though the reasons were different Mukuro didn’t really know what she was supposed to be doing right now either.

“I dunno why, but being in the dining hall helps keep me calm. So I know I shouldn’t, but I’ve just been kinda…. Hanging around here. ” Asahina said and Mukuro mentally thought back to all the time the swimmer used to spend in the dining hall cooking with friends and organizing girls only events there. It’s possible that Asahina felt some sort of left over emotions of memories associated with the dining hall before her memories were erased.

“To tell the truth…. I was doing the same thing last night, when Sayaka was killed….” Asahina mentioned grabbing her and Naegi’s attention.

“Really?” Naegi asked as Asahina nodded, “Yeah last time I saw her she got something from the kitchen” she said pointing in its direction as both Mukuro and Naegi headed towards the room.

While Naegi was looking at a knife set she grabbed an apple and a bottle of water, it wasn’t much but she didn’t know how much Naegi would be willing to eat.

She knew from experience on the battlefield that sometimes, especially when your life is on the line it could be easy to forget you need to eat. Usually you don’t want to eat or don’t feel hungry. But she also knew it was important to eat because if your body suddenly failed you it could mean your life.

While they weren’t on a battlefield right now she’s sure that both she and Naegi would feel better one they got something to eat.

She decided to grab a slice of bread and put some jam on it before chasing after Naegi who had already headed back to the dining hall.

Naegi was talking to Asahina again by the time she caught up with him “hey catch,” Mukuro said tossing Naegi an apple. His reflexes weren’t the best so he nearly dropped it a few times.

“Hey there Junko, did you decide to grab something to eat?” Asahina asked while Naegi looked at the apple that he had caught. Mukuro shook her head as she placed the water and bread on the table closest to Naegi.

“Nah this is for Naegi,” she said causing a look of surprise to form on his face. “Huh? Me?” Naegi said in confusion. She started playing with some locks of hair on her wig not quite making eye contact as she spoke.

“You’ve barely eaten anything all day and I heard it’s not good to not eat when you’ve been through a lot. You need like sugar or something to combat shock” she explained, why did her face feel so hot?

“I don’t think I’m in shock” Naegi tried to say. “Come on you fainted earlier right? And we’re all going to need our strength to get though this class trial thing so I think everyone would feel better if you just ate something” Mukuro pushed still finding she couldn’t make eye contact.

“Yeah food always makes people feel better! I had some tea earlier to calm me down so I think it’s fine to have something right now!” Asahina backed her up, “um ok I guess” Naegi said picking up the slice of bread.

Mukuro found herself breathing a sigh of relief when he took a bite, when she turned to Asahina she noticed the swimmer grinning at her. “So what where you two talking about?” Mukuro asked quickly changing the subject and hopefully distracting the swimmer from whatever she had been thinking.

“Oh we were talking about how one of the knives has gone missing!” Asahina said, “Oh yeah I noticed that but can you really call it missing? I mean isn’t the ‘missing knife’ the murder weapon?” she asked as Asahina looked thoughtful.

“Yeah, I was kind of thinking that as well….” Asahina went quite for a moment before speaking up again “Um by the way Makoto… Did you really kill Sayaka?” 

“Are you serious!?” Mukuro found herself exclaiming as Naegi started coughing from the water he had been drinking, she fought the urge to run to his side to make sure he wasn’t chocking.

He had finished his bread rather quickly, he must have been hungrier than he realized.

“Wh-What!? Of course not! I would never!” Naegi defended as soon as he stopped coughing the shock still present on his voice. “Hina….. Do you really think I murdered her?” Naegi asked a sad element in his voice.

Mukuro suddenly found herself glaring daggers at the swimmer.

“Well… she was killed in your room, right? So I mean…” Asahina defended herself “You guys were supposed to be friends, right? But you still… killed her…”

“HE DIDN’T KILL HER!” a voice shouted out and it took Mukuro a second to realize it her been her who said it. Both Asahina and Naegi looked at her in surprise.

“How… how can you be so sure?” Asahina asked breaking the silence that had suddenly formed. “He’s, he just doesn’t seem like the type of person that could hurt someone,” Mukuro said though her voice lacked the intensity that she had a few moments ago.

Naegi stood up from her chair as Mukuro turned to him, “Are you ready to go?” she asked as Naegi nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t realize how much I needed that” Naegi said as she nodded “no problem lets go” she said turning to leave as Naegi followed her out.

They walked in a silence while Mukuro wasn’t really paying attention to where they were heading.

“Thanks for that again” Naegi said as they were walking down the halls. She shrugged before responding “hey it’s important to eat something though stressful moments” she said as Naegi shook his head.

“No not that though thanks for that as well.” Naegi said as he suddenly stopped walking “What I mean is thanks for defending me with Hina, and also before with Leon and Yamada” he said.

Mukuro didn’t really no what to say for a few moments but before she knew it her mouth started to move without her permission, she wasn’t pretending to be her sister for a moment this was her breaking character completely speaking to him “I know you didn’t do it Makoto, I know it doesn’t mean much coming from me but-“

“You’ve got that wrong!” Naegi said with more intensity than she’s ever heard him have before “It mean’s so much to me to know that at least one person believes it me, I didn’t realize how much I needed it until you defended me but I’m so glad you were there and that you helped me investigate and I really feel that we can get through this” he said leaving Mukuro staring at him in awe for a few minutes.

“Uh sorry I might have gotten a bit intense there for a second,” Naegi said with embarrassment and that moment seemed to break whatever spell she had been under in this conversation as she went back to her Junko’s persona “no it was so cute! I can’t believe you’re so positive at a time like this,” she said causing Naegi to look even more embarrassed than he already was.

“Well being optimistic is kind of the only thing I’m good at” Naegi said causing her to smile “That is so cute it suites you” she said flashing him a grin.

“So what do you plan to do next?” she asked as Naegi looked thoughtful. “I think I’d like to have a look at Sayaka’s DVD” he said a little quietly as she nodded.

“I guess we should split up here then,” she announced causing him some surprise “Why?” he asked “Well you were her friend so I don’t think she’d have a problem with you watching it but… I don’t think I have the right to watch it…” She said looking away from him fiddling with the hair on her wig again. 

“Besides there are some thing I want to check out myself,” she said and he nodded, they wished each other luck as she started walking away from him once she was out of his line of sight she started sprinting and didn’t stop until she was inside her room.

She leaned against the door after she closed it behind her and found herself sinking to the floor, they talked so much, and he smiled at her so much.

Her face felt hot again.

“What the hell was that?” a voice said coming from the monitor in her room that had switched on as soon as she entered. Her sister looked down on her with an annoyed expression.

“Seriously I know you don’t have a brain but what were you thinking running like that? What if someone had seen you?” Junko asked with an annoyed voice. “I’m sorry” Mukuro found herself mumbling.

“Huh? I can barley hear you if your going to waste my time by speaking then at least to it properly!” he sister demanded and Mukuro found herself apologizing again.

“Well at least everyone’s investigation is going well, looks like everything’s running smoothly on that end” Junko said, as it appeared she was looking at other monitors.

“Um Junko, why did you change the plan?” Mukuro asked speaking up as her sister turned her attention back on her “Huh? I’m sorry I didn’t realize that flat chested socially stunted freak who only know how to kill people were running the show!” Junko said.

“Oh no I didn’t mean it like that Junko I was just wondering why you-“ Mukuro tried to defend herself as her twin interrupted her.

“You shouldn’t wonder anything you’ve hurt that pathetic excuse for a brain you just need to do what I tell you because all you know how to do is follow orders” Junko said.

“Of, of course your right I’m sorry Junko” Mukuro apologized again.

“Man, I wished I killed you. Who would have thought you’d do such a terrible job acting without a script. Geez you couldn’t act your way out of a paper bag sis, how is someone as amazing as me even related to something like you?” Junko asked.

“I’m sorry Junko,” Mukuro apologized, “Well watching someone do such a god-awful job impersonating me is despair inducing in it’s own way so I guess we’ll keep going” Junko commented.

“Um am I going to get a new script?” Mukuro asked, “Huh!? You think I don’t have better things to do with my time than having to micromanage an incompetent bitch!?” Junko asked sounding annoyed. “No that’s not what I mean I know you have more important things to do Junko its just I-“ Mukuro began before being interrupted again.

“That right pretty much anything is more important than you! In fact I can’t be bothered to do everything for you, you’ll get a script if I need to have you do something but until then figure it out for yourself.” Junko said sounding bored.

“What myself?” Mukuro said in shock, “Even animals know how to act sis though your doing a terrible job at it if you keep on acting maybe you can pass off as a worthwhile human being. Besides watching you squirm around trying to figure out what to do is kinda fun, see you after the class trial sis” her sister said smiling towards the end before the monitor switched off.

So Junko was expecting her to be able to infiltrate their classmates by herself from here on out. She wasn’t sure she could pull it off but if it was what her sister wanted she would do it.

After a little while there was an announcement for the class trial to begin, she made her way to the elevator where the others had assembled. Everyone came one by one until Naegi was the last to show up.

“You’re late Makoto! We’ve all been waiting for you!” Ishimaru said as soon as Naegi arrived, Mukuro found herself sighing “Are you serious? How can you even care about something like that with everything that’s going on?” she said.

“Humph. I b-bet he was afraid her would be discovered as th-the murderer he is” Fukawa said smugly “As someone who didn’t help with the investigation at all you’re the last person who gets to say who the murder is” Mukuro said.

“How d-dare you” Fukawa said in shock, “Enough! Miss Fukawa, Miss Enoshima please do not jump to conclusions just yet! Save that for the class trial! There we can all reveal the details of Makoto’s crime!” Kiyotaka said before the two girls could get into a fight.

“Didn’t you just say not to jump to conclusions?” Mukuro asked in an annoyed voice.

At that moment a monitor came to life to show an image of a Monokuma “Is everyone here? Okay then, please board the elevator in front of you, which will transport you to the courtroom where all your fates will be decided. I’ll meet you all down there. I’ll be waiting…” Monokuma said as the screen switched off.

One by one her classmates started getting on the elevator, until there was only her, Naegi and Kirigiri yet to get on.

“Are you scared?” Kirigiri asked Naegi “N-no, scared isn’t quite right” Naegi stated, “I said it before it’s up to you to uncover the mysteries surrounding this case yourself. If you don’t, you’ll never come to grips with the truth.” Kirigiri said before entering the elevator.

“Well that was… something” Mukuro observed. “I need to uncover the truth of Sayaka’s death. I didn’t need someone else to tell me to do that. In Sayaka’s honor I swear I’ll find out who the real killer is!” Naegi declared to himself a look of something she couldn’t quite describe in his eyes.

“You ready?” she asked heading towards the elevator, “As I’ll ever be,” he said following her in she noticed he was trembling slightly either with fear or anticipation.

She’d protect him that was her thought, as the elevator started moving and they descended down to the very first class trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the investigation, sorry if it's a bit boring I wanted to make it as much like the game as possible. This took me a while to write, who knows how long the class trial is going to take. Thank you to everyone who's been reading so far.


	3. The Frist trial- case summery

Mukuro found her eyes drifting over to Naegi multiple times as Monokuma or rather her sister controlling the bear gave a basic explanation of the class trial, she tried to look as if she was paying attention like the rest of her classmates but her thoughts kept drifting over to Naegi.

Was he going to be ok?

They weren’t that far away from each other but she wished she were next to him.

“The killer really is one of us, right?” Naegi asked, some part of him, he probably still doubted it. Naegi was the kind of person that liked to believe in others.

She tried to stop herself from frowning; it was unfortunate that his belief and trust in others had been betrayed. By Maizono, by Kuwata and… by herself.

Putting Naegi through this… it wasn’t something she liked but Junko knew what she was doing, and this was something that Junko wanted. Mukuro believed in her sister more than anything.

“Of course,” Monokuma gleefully responded to Naegi’s question, “Okay then… everyone close your eyes, and whoever did it, raise your hand!” Ishimaru declared causing a few seconds of silence.

“Don’t be a goddamn idiot. Why the hell would they raise their hand?” Owada said sounding mildly annoyed at the suggestion, the past few days of seeing those two not getting along had been kind of weird.

But right now she should be thinking about getting Naegi through this class trial and also making sure that Junko was happy with it, she knew that she continually kept on disappointing her sister, she couldn’t let this killing game that her sister worked so hard on end in a way Junko wouldn’t be happy with.

What would Junko expect her to do right now? 

Mukuro rolled her eyes “Come on you couldn’t have seriously expected that to work,” she said to Ishimaru fighting the urge to look at Monokuma to see if there was any hint she had done it right.

“Before we move on and start the trial, can I ask a question a question real quick?” Kirigiri’s voice cut in her gaze going over the courtroom “what’s going on with… that picture?” the detective said looking at a picture of the dead idol.

Naegi gave an uncomfortable glance at the picture next to him and this time Mukuro couldn’t stop a slight frown.

“I’d feel awful if our dear Sayaka got left out just because she died. Friendship penetrates even deaths barrier!” The bear explained, “Friendship… penetrates…” Yamada muttered some sweat appearing on him.

“Gross, I don’t even want to know what you’re thinking about!” She said to Yamada before shifting her gaze to Monokuma “and anyway you talk about friendship but one of us still killed Maizono right?” Mukuro continued feeling her sister would probably want the class to keep an air of distrust amongst them.

She had to bight down the sigh of relief when the bear laughed gleefully “That’s riiiiiiiight!” Monokuma said 

Ok this was good Junko was probably enjoying herself right now, her role was to make things so Junko was happiest that’s all she could do.

“Okay, but what about that other empty seat? There were only fifteen of us to begin with, so why are there sixteen seats?” Celeste asked looking at the space directly opposite Naegi, huh? She never actually really thought about that. When the courtroom was being made it kind of made sense that the number of spaces was the same as their class but now…

Was that Junko’s place? Her sister wasn’t participating in the trials, as anything other than the judge and executioner so she wouldn’t need a place, would she?

“Oh, no reason. It’s just that our little courtroom here can technically fit up to sixteen people. Okay, that about does it for the preamble. Get ready to get started!” Monokuma explained moving the conversation along as he started to look excited.

“First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial… begin!” 

Around her everyone seemed full of nerves and anticipation no one making a direct effort to start talking. She swallowed before speaking feeling that the trial needed to start soon or her sister could get bored “So um how should we, like start?” she asked maybe that would prompt someone to do something.

“I assert that the one who was murdered was Miss Sayaka Maizono!” Ishimaru declared, which was well obvious but still a start.

“…Yeah, we know that part already” Hagakure voiced probably everyone’s thoughts. “And the murder took place in Makoto’s room” Togami stated “In the bathroom…” Asahina added muttering in a way that the swimmers words could have easily been missed.

“So it seems most likely that… the killer must have taken her by surprise when she was in the bathroom” Fujisaki suggested. “She didn’t even have a chance to resist.” The programmer noted sadly.

“You’ve got that wrong!” a voice yelled out and to Mukuro's surprise it came from Naegi.

Who well he… he sounded so certain. It was just a statement but he kind of looked cool.

“Just a second, Chihiro. Try to remember how my room looked…” Naegi said causing Mukuro to realize what he was saying.

“Hey yeah, Naegi’s right. His room was this huge mess like there’d been a huge fight or something!” she said as Naegi nodded.

“With the way things had been damaged, I think we can definitely assume there was a struggle.” Naegi stated, “A struggle? Between who… and who?” Fujisaki asked.

“Between Sayaka and the killer, probably” Mukuro stated “So you guys are saying… Sayaka wasn’t caught by surprise in the bathroom…?” Fujisaki asked timidly.

“She must have been attacked in the main room first, then she ran to the bathroom to try and hide.” Celeste noted, 

“Well wouldn’t you? People usually try and get away when someone’s trying to kill them.” Mukuro stated.

Her thoughts drifted back to various mission other soldiers sometime stood there ground but a lot begin to flee when death seems imminent. And those who aren’t fighters like those in the villages Fenrir were hired to destroy and those with little experience with death and blood like the students in that school her sister had ordered her to attack…. People would always scream and run away from her and desperately try to save themselves…. Not that running ever seemed to help them….

“Most likely, but then the killer followed her in, and that’s where they finished the job…” Celeste finished her statement pulling Mukuro from her thoughts.

“That much should have been obvious after taking one look at the scene. It shouldn’t even need explaining,” Togami said dismissively “S- Sorry…” Fujisaki apologized.

“Wow way to be rude four eyes” Mukuro said to Togami “four eyes!” Togami repeated with an absolutely offended face as if he couldn’t believe she called him that.

“… Okay, so what’s next?” Hagakure asked, causing her to nod “good point what is next?” she parroted not still not really sure what to do without her twin giving her lines.

“Next is the subject of the murder weapon.” Oogami stated, “Wow… this is starting to sound like a real trial!” Yamada said in amazement and Mukuro had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

“So what was used to kill her?” Oogami asked, “You mean other than the knife in her stomach?” Mukuro asked sarcastically.

“There was some kind of sharp object thrust into her stomach…” Ishimaru said agreeing with her, “Without a doubt, that is the murder weapon!” he declared.

“Ishimaru you really like stating the obvious don’t you?” Mukuro found herself muttering quietly.

“So the killer used some random knife they had on ‘em…” Owada began before he was suddenly interrupted.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

“No. I do think it was a knife- but not just any knife. I’m almost positive it was a kitchen knife.” Naegi stated, 

“Huh? A kitchen knife…?” Owada parroted.

“After the murder, we discovered that one of the knives from the kitchen was missing.” Naegi noted, “Yeah you were talking to Hina about that earlier right?” Mukuro found the question slip out of her mouth naturally as the eyes of those in the courtroom shifted to the swimmer.

“Ah yeah, I was in the kitchen during the investigation and one of the knives that had been there earlier wasn’t there anymore…” Asahina said nervously looking unsure of what more to say. “Which means that knife must have been the murder weapon.” Oogami said backing up her friend.

“Ohh… yeah, I guess that makes sense. You could sorta see the weapon stickin’ out of her stomach… And if you look real close, I could totally see that being a kitchen knife.” Owada agreed.

“Okay, so the murder weapon was a kitchen knife. But where does that get us?” Kuwata spoke out his question silencing everyone as Mukuro felt herself glaring at the baseball player.

“I mean, we all know Makoto killed her, right!?” Kuwata stated. “No he didn’t!” she found herself shouting before she could stop herself.

Crap everyone was looking at her… but she couldn’t afford to back down.

“What do you mean ‘no he didn’t’!?” Kuwata asked her angrily 

“Just take a look at him do you really think a cutie pie like Makoto could kill anyone?” she asked shooting him a grin and a peace sign, Junko would probably say something like that right?

In the corner of her eye she could see Naegi looking a bit redder than he usually does, was he feeling hot?

“You can’t be serious” Kuwata said in disbelief,

“Well it’s true Makoto does seem a bit too… innocent to commit murder, he could have just been trying to hide his true nature” Celeste stated, causing some surprise from Mukuro; she had been so focused on arguing with Kuwata and defending Naegi she had almost forgot about everyone else here.

She fiddled with some of the hair on her wig as she replied to Celeste’s statement, “Yeah I guess but as a model I’ve had my fair share of encounters with creepy guys…” Mukuro said as she thought bitterly about some of the guys who had tried to come after her sister even though they were nowhere near deserving enough for her.

“The vibe I get from them, I just don’t get that vibe from Makoto… but you know something Kuwata some of those worse guys gave me the same feeling you’re giving me right now.” She said the last part of her statement glaring at the baseball player.

“If I had to bet on who’d the murderer would be, I’d probably put my money on you…” she said coldly as Kuwata was taken aback.

“Are you fucking kidding me!? Don’t fuck around! Vibes!? What kind of bullshit is that!?” Kuwata shouted angrily at her.

“Hey man vibes can actually tell people a lot-” Hagakure defended before getting interrupted. “Don’t fuck with me our lives are on the line! We need real actual evidence!” Kuwata yelled.

“That’s r-right… Makoto is obviously the killer! Makoto’s room was the s-scene of the crime. What more proof do you n-need?” Fukawa stated.

“H-Hold on a second! I’m-!” Naegi hastily tried to defend himself, as Mukuro got ready to berate Fukawa when a calm voice spoke out stopping them both in their tracks.

“Let’s draw our conclusions *after* we’ve presented our arguments. Otherwise, what’s the point of the trial?” Kirigiri asked rhetorically.

“Well we can talk all we want, it’s not going to change *that* conclusion” Kuwata said causing Mukuro to practically growl “Oh my gosh shut up! Why are you so desperate to pin this on Naegi!?” she demanded.

Though that was basically her own rhetorical question, after all she knew why Kuwata was so desperate to pin his crime on someone else.

“I’m not desperate there’s just no one else it could have been! We won’t find anything new!” Kuwata said losing his cool a little bit.

“I don’t think that’s true at all. I’m sure if we keep at it, something new will reveal itself.” Kirigiri reassured keeping an element of calm about her.

“You really believe that…?” Hagakure asked only to be met with silence from the detective, well if the detective wasn’t going to say anything than maybe she should.

“Why shouldn’t she believe it? After all the trials practically just started, so there must be a bunch of stuff we haven’t covered yet right?” Mukuro asked shooting a wide smile and a peace sign, which has probably become her trademark at this point.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep this up, she’s practically repeating the same old things. But as long as no one suspects anything maybe Junko won’t get upset.

She turned to glance at Naegi to check on him again, but it looked like this time he noticed her because he gave her a smile…

Was that smile for reassurance? 

Her heart was doing that weird thing it did whenever Naegi smiled at her…

He still had that determined look on his face… right she had to focus she had to make everyone realize that Naegi would never hurt someone.

She looked in Kuwata’s direction to glare at the baseball star as he began to speak. 

“So I guess there’s no question that the kitchen knife was the murder weapon. But where does that get us?” Kuwata asked.

“M-Makoto must have taken it f-from the kitchen right? He did it in s- secret, when nobody was in the d-dining hall…” Fukawa accused.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

Makoto’s words shot through the courtroom again, it was funny the way he was shooting down arguments kind of reminded Mukuro of bullets firing from a gun.

“Okay, wait, hold on. I didn’t take the knife from the kitchen.” Makoto said only for Fukawa to make a quick panicked response “Next you’re g-gonna say you’re not the k-killer, right? Go ahead and say it all y-you want!”

“Oh my god book worm have you been paying attention to this trial at all? He has a witness!” Mukuro complained, she was getting a bit tiered of Fukawa’s accusations towards Naegi.

“I-I have been paying attention y-you trashy women!” Fukawa responded angrily causing Mukuro to gasp.

“Excuse me!? I am not trashy! And in that outfit you don’t have the right to judge anyone” Mukuro tried insulting the writer causing further outrage in the other girl.

“A-at least I don’t d-dress like a-“ Fukawa began before the sound of Kirigiri clearing her throat interrupted the argument.

“Let’s get back to the trial shall we? There was mentions of a witness wasn’t there?” Kirigiri asked getting the trial back on track as Makoto responded.

“That’s right, what do you think Hina?” Makoto asked causing confusion in the swimmer as he continued, “remember what you were telling me earlier? Just to be perfectly clear, the knife disappeared while you were in the dining hall, correct?” Naegi asked as the swimmers eyes widened in realization and she nodded.

“Y-yeah that’s right…” Asahina said uncertainly as if unsure about what to say next.

“And at any point while you were there, did you ever see me come into the dining hall?” Naegi asked as Asahina shook her head.

“Umm… no, I don’t think so…” Asahina said uncertainly though it looks like her thoughts were connecting something the swimmer didn’t particularly like.

“You don’t *think* so?” Togami said condescendingly, “Hey leave her alone! Besides this is proof that Naegi didn’t take the knife!” Mukuro jumped to the swimmers defense as Togami scoffed at her.

“I’m supposed to believe such an uncertain testimony is supposed to be proof?” Togami all but sneered; despite the situation he was still acting confident; as if he knew everything.

“…No, he definitely wasn’t there!” Asahina said more confidently as if in defiance to Togami’s attitude.

“The knife disappeared while Hina was in the dining hall. But I wasn’t there the entire time. In other words there’s no way I could have taken the knife!” Makoto said causing Mukuro to cheer for him like she’d seen Junko sometimes do for Yasuke back when he was alive.

“Woo! Go Makoto! You’re like an ace attorney or something!” she praised causing an embarrassed look from Makoto and an excited laugh from Yamada.

“So it would seem! Could Mr. Naegi be the protagonist!?” Yamada declared.

“D-don’t be ridiculous!” Fukawa scolded Yamada before turning her attention back on Naegi “Okay, th- then what about this? What if the i- idiot swimmer girl and M-Makoto are in on it together, a-and lying to protect each other? Heck th-that t-trashy model is probably in on it t-too with how much she’s been defending him” Fukawa accused.

“Idiot Swimmer Girl!?” “Trashy Model!?”

Mukuro and Asahina both said Fukawa’s respective insults for them in a tone that was a mix of insulted and disbelief.

“More importantly, why would I get involved in something like that!?” Asahina asked angry at the insult and accusation.

“Yeah that’s right! Like I’d even have anything to gain being an accomplice to murder!” Mukuro backed the swimmer up while remembering the rules to her sister’s game.

“Speaking of which, I’d like to ask the bear… if there *is* an accomplice, do they also become, ‘blackened’?” Togami asked curiously and crap maybe she shouldn’t have said anything about there being nothing to gain by being an accomplice but maybe she can still save this.

“Huh? I thought it was obvious that you only become a murderer if you actually end someone’s life like I mean lots events can lead up to murder but its only murder if someone dies right? So like an accomplice could never be an actual murderer right?” Mukuro said trying to give a reasonable line of thinking.

Togami scoffed again, crap maybe she had messed up but luckily her brilliant sister knew what to do. Mukuro just wished that she wasn’t such a disappointment to Junko.

“So it has been asked, and so I shall answer!” Monokuma declared drawing attention away from Mukuro.

“I hate to say it but the girl is right! Each murder is allowed an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate.” Monokuma explained sparking Kirigiri’s interest.

“So in other words, two people can work together, but one of them has no chance of profiting from it…” the detective observed 

“Then there’s no way anyone would work together, right?” Owada questioned.

“Yeah that’s right so there’s no way Hina and I are lying about anything” Mukuro pushed hoping that this was enough to move the conversation along when Fujisaki suddenly spoke.

“But… what if they *did* work together, and they just didn’t know about the rule?” they asked uncertainly.

“Huh? Are you serious?” Mukuro exclaimed trying to fight down any panic threatening to build inside her, she knew she couldn’t keep this up.

“Uggh, good grief!” Monokuma yelled dragging Mukuro out of her thoughts, there bear sounded so much like Junko when she was getting annoyed with something that Mukuro had to fight down an apology that threatened to slip out.

“Enough already! No, okay!? There are no accomplices in this case!” Monokuma exclaimed “… Oops! Did I say that out loud?” Monokuma said as if he had revealed too much but Mukuro was certain it was on purpose. 

Her sister was trying to move along the trial, after all Junko wasn’t careless and didn’t make mistakes. The current state of the world was proof of how effective her sister’s plans were.

“Anyway, I didn’t go to the dining hall, and I didn’t take the knife. So I’m not the killer!” Makoto declared the first half of his statement sounded as if he simply wanted to stop listening to Monokuma.

It was weird in the years that she’d known him Mukuro had never actually seen Naegi openly dislike something.

“Okay, so then… who *did* take the knife?” Fujisaki asked uncertainly.

“Well we could always ask Hina who she saw,” Mukuro offered when Celeste spoke up,

“Hina herself actually seems the obvious candidate. After all, she just said she was in the dining hall…” Celeste slyly accused.

“N-No way! I swear it wasn’t me!” Asahina quickly defended herself looking shocked and panicked that she had been accused.

“Sure, but can you or anyone else prove that?” Yamada accused causing Mukuro to scoff,

“Oh my god are you guys just gonna gang up on every suspect you find? I feel like we’re wasting time! Maybe she has a witness too!” Mukuro said slightly annoyed, because they were pointing their fingers at practically everyone except for the actual killer.

Trying to calm down Mukuro looked at Asahina and tried her best to sound comforting though she didn’t really have a lot of experience with that sort of thing “Hina, was anyone else with you in the dining hall that can prove you didn’t do it?” Mukuro asked.

“I was.” Oogami said immediately and Mukuro had figured as much, those two tended to stick together.

“That’s right! Sakura was with me the entire time I was drinking my tea” Asahina said looking relieved at the proof that she wasn’t the murderer when Kuwata spoke up.

“Uhh… I hate to have to ask, but I just have to be sure, Sakura’s…”

“Me.” The fighter said simply with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“…Right,” the baseball player said looking slightly uncomfortable prompting Mukuro to scoff.

“What?!” Kuwata demanded as Mukuro rolled her eyes, “Nothing you are just so unbelievable” Mukuro said a bit of annoyance dripping into her tone.

“But then… couldn’t either one of them have grabbed the knife?” Hagakure asked causing Mukuro to groan,

“Come on! Haven’t you been paying attention there are no accomplices in this case and they were both watching each other!” Mukuro said in the same tone of voice her sister used when she was complaining about something.

“Yeah that's right… and… well…” Asahina muttered uncertainly when Owada interrupted her “just spit it out already!” he said.

“I stayed in Hina’s room last night.” Oogami said promptly and Asahina gave her friend a grateful look.

“I got so scared thanks to those creepy videos. I wasn’t really thinking, I just asked her to stay over. Which means we have airtight alibi’s!” Asahina declared

“You s-stayed over…? Doesn’t that v-violate one of the school r-regulations?” Fukawa questioned.

“We’re not allowed to sleep anywhere but the dorms, but it doesn’t say we have to stay in our assigned room… So… I don’t think that’s a problem.” Fujisaki observed.

“It IS a problem! A boy and a girl spending the night together!? It’s… it’s… unwholesome!” Ishimaru stated getting flustered at the idea when Mukuro interrupted him.

“Um, like I hate to burst your bubble but Sakura is kind of obviously a girl” Mukuro said simply never having really understood the confusion some seemed to have over the topic.

Causing a look of confusion to fall over Ishimaru’s face as he turned to face Sakura who nodded simply “I am a girl”

“Wh-!? You are!? Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!” Ishimaru began to hastily apologize, he probably would have continued like that if Celeste hadn’t spoken up to move the trial along. 

They seemed be get off track a lot…

“But if it wasn’t either of you, then what other possibility is there?” Celeste questioned.

“Actually, there *is* one other possibility. Right, Hina?” Oogami prompted her friend as a look of realization dawned on the swimmer.

“Oh yeah, that’s true! I’ve kinda been thinking about it for a while, one other person did come into the dining hall while we were there.” Asahina said when Togami suddenly spoke up annoyance clear on his face.

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Togami questioned as an uncomfortable look appeared on Asahina’s face.

“Well, because… they’re not here anymore.” Asahina said and Mukuro noticed a shocked look on Naegi’s face as Asahina continued speaking, “Sayaka. She’s the one who came into the dining hall. And then later… she wound up dead…” Asahina said sounding sad towards the end of her statement.

That’s right these guys weren’t used to death…

Mukuro turned to glance at Naegi, who had a greater look of shock in his face, “then… Sayaka is the one who took the knife…?” Naegi muttered the question as if not quite believing it.

“That’s the only possibility. And thinking back on it, she was acting kind of unusual… When she came into the dining hall, she didn’t even look at us. She just went straight to the kitchen. As she left, she said she just wanted a drink of water. But most likely…” Oogami explained trailing off towards the end.

“Then the person who took the knife was the victim herself!” Ishimaru stated but throughout their statements Mukuro hadn’t been looking at Oogami or Ishimaru, her eyes had been fixed on Naegi.

She knew… she knew that Naegi would eventually learn that Maizono had tried to betray him but… she didn’t like the idea of Naegi getting hurt by a betrayal.

“Naegi-“ Mukuro began when Naegi suddenly spoke up, “I’m sure… I’m sure she just took it for self-defense…” he said and Mukuro wondered whether he actually believed that or he was just trying to convince himself that was the case.

“So you’re saying the knife she took… was then taken from her, and she was killed with it? In that case, you may not have taken the knife, but you still could have killed her.” Togami stated causing shock from both Mukuro and Naegi.

“S-see!? He did do it, a-after all!” Fukawa said smugly while Naegi protested.

“Hang on a minute! That’s not proof that Naegi killed Maizono anyone could have taken the knife from her!” Mukuro tried to defend him but her argument was ignored as the class got caught up in their accusations.

“So that’s how he would twist the argument and send us all off in the wrong direction!?” Yamada said an element of anger to his voice which didn’t really fit him when he wasn’t talking about something he didn’t like happening in a popular game or anime.

“Hang on accusing Naegi is going in the wrong direction-“ Mukuro tried but her protest was drowned out with more accusations from the class.

“The fuck Makoto!?” Owada yelled, “now wait-“ Mukuro tried,

“This is a very incriminating circumstance what do you have to say for yourself?” Ishimaru asked.

“No that’s-“ Mukuro started to say before being interrupted.

“See!? I knew he did it!” Kuwata the actual murder said, then Fukawa started jumping in before Mukuro could even open her mouth to challenge the baseball player.

“I-I say w-we string him r-right now!” Fukawa said.

It was no use, no one was listening to Naegi trying to defend himself; no one was listening to her trying to defend Naegi. 

Maybe if her sister was actually here instead of watching through Monokuma with Mukuro pretending to be Junko, maybe if Mukuro had another talent like Super High School Level debater instead of Soldier which seemed so, so useless in this situation she could convince the others that Naegi wasn’t the culprit.

But no one would listen to her; of course not even though she was pretending to be her sister right now she wasn’t Junko. Junko was right she was a disappointment, she couldn’t even help Naegi.

She griped the stand in front of her as her classmates shouted more accusations at Naegi but she couldn’t quite hear them. They sounded almost muffled as if there was cotton in her ears.

At this rate the class were going to vote Naegi guilty and he would die along with the rest of them.

She knew that her classmates would die eventually for the sake of her sister’s despair. So many others had but…

Naegi was… Naegi was the first person who ever smiled at her.

The first time she saw that smile… it was selfish and foolish of her but… she wanted to keep seeing that smile…

She wanted to protect that smile.

But she couldn’t because she couldn’t protect Naegi.

Her sister could drive the entire world to despair but Mukuro couldn’t even convince a bunch of high school students of the obvious.

That Naegi the nicest person she’d ever met, who cared about others more than himself, who would never hurt anyone, who would always praise her whenever she helped him out, who used to invite her to sit with him at lunch sometimes, who gave her a small world outside of her sister…

He wasn’t a murderer.

Even if she hadn’t seen Kuwata kill Maizono, she would have known that.

So… So why couldn’t they see it? Why couldn’t she make them see it?

They… they were going to kill Naegi.

Her eyes scanned the room; she knew she could probably kill most of them. Oogami could beat her at hand-to-hand combat but if she went after her first, made a move before the fighter had a chance to react… Maybe… they couldn’t vote Naegi guilty if he was the only one left…

But… that would upset Junko… ha killing really is all Mukuro was good at after all… no wonder her thoughts went there… after all she couldn’t help Naegi in any other way, but ending the mutual killing game like that would upset Junko.

Junko!

If the mutual killing game ended after the first trial, would her sister be upset?

Naegi was going to die and her sister’s game would be ruined…

Mukuro suddenly couldn’t breath; the air wasn’t quite reaching her lungs.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the Monokuma bear look at her curiously while Mukuro looked at Naegi who was trying to defend himself from the others accusations.

Kirigiri began to prepare to make a move when a voice rang throughout the courtroom.

“STOP IT!!!!!!!!”

It took a second for Mukuro to realize that she was the one who yelled by the fact that all eyes were on her the rest of the courtroom stood in a stunned silence except for the sound of Mukuro near hyperventilating.

Mukuro took a shaky breath.

“I- I can’t believe you all… you just keep going round in circles, the trial isn’t moving forward and we’re not learning anything because you don’t want to let go of the idea that Naegi is the killer… What do you want this trial to be over so badly that you’ve just decided to point your finger at the first person you find? You all realize that if we get this wrong we’ll die right!? Death isn’t something that you walk away from… and if you… if you all keep just pointing the finger at Naegi instead of actually trying to figure out who murdered Sayaka then we’ll all die! If you want to bet your lives on your first guess fine! But last time I checked Naegi was the only one here with Super High School Level Luck!”

Everyone stood in silence contemplating Mukuro’s words, she hadn’t meant to make a speech but that’s what seemed to have happen. Everyone suddenly looked a little less sure of themselves and Mukuro couldn’t quite tell but it looked like Monokuma’s grin was wider.

It was Kirigiri who broke the silence; her words cutting through it like a knife.

“Junko is right,” the detective said slightly shocking Mukuro as Kirigiri continued. “It’s still too early to decide conclusively that Makoto is the killer, wouldn’t you say?” Kirigiri asked rhetorically giving a slight smile to Mukuro before continuing.

“Because, you see, if the room did belong to the killer, then they did something most bewildering. And until we unravel that little mystery, you simply can’t declare that he’s the killer.” The detective stated.

“Bewildering? What the hell are you talking about!?” Owada half demanded half questioned.

“Something was missing from the scene of the crime that by all rights should have been there. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” Kirigiri asked Naegi, as he looked thoughtful.

After thinking for a few seconds Naegi suddenly exclaimed the answer “That’s right! There wasn’t a single hair on the floor!”

“So… the culprit removed some evidence?” Fujisaki questioned uncertainly.

“Yes. And if I were the culprit…” Makoto said, “Why would you need to get rid of all the hair in your own room!” Mukuro finished for him eyes widening in realization at where Kirigiri was going with this.

Naegi nodded at her “that’s right Junko!” he said as he continued, “ it wouldn’t be unusual at all to find my hair at the crime scene, if the crime scene is in my room.” Naegi stated.

“The reason all the hair was gone… was to remove any trace that Sayaka had ever been there. That makes sense, does it not?” Celeste tried.

“No. If that were the case, they would have had to do something about the body itself, not just her hair.” Kirigiri explained dismissing Celeste’s argument.

“Most likely the actual killer was trying to cover up that they had been there, if Makoto or even Sayaka’s hair was found at the crime scene that would be no big deal but if it was blonde hair like mine or red hair like Kuwata’s was found that would be pretty incriminating. The killer must have realized their hair could give them away and tried to get rid of it.” Mukuro stated Kuwata glaring at her when she mentioned his name.

Mukuro had also mentioned herself so it wouldn’t look suspicious. After all she couldn’t keep accusing the same person unless she could prove it to the others.

“Ah-ha-ha! Yes, very true, very true!” Yamada agreed most likely trying to save face.

“Wait, then this means…” Owada said as if he just realized something, Mukuro saw Kirigiri smirk as if the others were finally realizing something she already knew, the detective was definitely in her element even if she didn’t quite know it herself.

“Precisely. It’s simply beyond reason to believe that the room’s owner and the killer are one in the same.” Kirigiri explained.

“Then… Makoto isn’t the culprit?” Fujisaki said in realization before Ishimaru suddenly spoke.

“But are you sure we can decide something so important based solely on the absence of some hair?” Ishimaru questioned and Mukuro had to resist the urge to groan, every time she thought they were getting somewhere.

“No. There are other reasons that prove why Makoto couldn’t have done it.” Kirigiri put simply.

“I would like to hear these reasons…” Oogami said an element of curiosity in her voice.

“Do you remember anything remarkable about the bathroom at the scene? Sayaka was attacked in the main room first, then fled into the bathroom, right?” Kirigiri questioned calmly.

“Yeah, they then ran after her, got into the bathroom, and stabbed her.” Owada stated.

“And how did the killer get into the bathroom? Did they have any trouble with it?’ Kirigiri questioned further.

“What do you mean?” Celeste asked.

“It’s fairly certain that the killer had some trouble getting into the bathroom. There was clear evidence left behind. Do you remember, Makoto?” Kirigiri asked Naegi, as he looked thoughtful.

“Evidence that the killer had trouble getting into the bathroom… You’re talking about the doorknob, right?” Naegi asked the detective

“Huh? The doorknob? What doorknob?” Hagakure questioned.

“The doorknob for my bathroom… It was completely broken. See how the top part was unscrewed, and the doorknobs about ready to fall off?” Naegi explained 

“Oh yeah, true… But what does it mean?” Fujisaki asked.

“In trying to bypass the lock, they ended up nearly removing the entire doorknob. This is another most bewildering act for the room’s owner. It proves Makoto is beyond suspicion.” Kirigiri explained.

“So what, you’re saying he wouldn’t break down the door in his own room? But if the only choice you have is to break it, you break it! There’s nothing ‘bewildering’ about it!” Kuwata refuted and Mukuro practically growled at him.

“What?!” The baseball player asked accusingly when he noticed Mukuro glaring at him yet again.

“Why would Makoto break down his own door baseball nut?!” Mukuro asked sarcastically calling him a baseball nut because she knew he was trying to move away from baseball and he didn’t appreciate constantly being linked with the game.

One of the reasons Junko made his execution baseball themed.

Unlike in the execution the baseball reference wasn’t really to drive Kuwata into despair, it was more to take a dig at him. It wasn’t much but Mukuro might have enjoyed the look on his face a little.

“Don’t call me baseball nut!” Kuwata said dissatisfaction clear on his face, “and obviously he had to break down the door because it was locked!” he continued as Mukuro rolled her eyes.

“Why the hell would Naegi think the door was locked?” Mukuro asked, causing Kuwata to look confused.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Kuwata asked, which Mukuro guesses she could understand his confusion after all from his perspective the door basically did lock.

“You still don’t see? Okay then…” Kirigiri said speaking up not seeming fazed by Kuwata trying to go against her deduction.

It was down right scary how much faith Kirigiri had in her talent when the detective didn’t even know she was a detective.

“Let’s take another look at how the incident unfolded. Hopefully that will help you understand, the incident took place in Makoto’s room. Sayaka was first attacked in the main room. She then fled into the bathroom.” Kirigiri slowly set out the events of the murder.

“Then the killer ran after her, and they got into the bathroom.” Owada continued realizing that Kirigiri was setting out what they knew to see if there was anything anyone missed.

“At that point, the killer had to try and bust down the door because Sayaka had locked it” Kuwata added in when Naegi’s voice rang out stopping the conversation.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

“The reason my bathroom didn’t open wasn’t because it was locked.” Naegi explained which caused nearly all the students except for Mukuro and Kirigiri to give him a look of curiosity and confusion.

“Well yeah, I mean your bathroom door shouldn’t even lock.” Mukuro spoke up causing Naegi to nod at her.

“That’s right Junko, after all the girl’s rooms are the only ones with bathrooms, right?” Makoto stated.

“Yeah, so as a guy you’re bathroom shouldn’t lock. I mean if there was someone lying about their gender among the 15 of us I doubt it would be you” Mukuro said shooting Naegi a grin when she noticed Fujisaki begin to look uncomfortable.

Crap, did she make another slip up?

“I mean that last bit was just a joke but the point about your bathroom not having a lock still stands” Mukuro said hurriedly trying to fix it.

“A joke?” Fujisaki quietly piped up still looking uncomfortable.

“Yeah, not even that more like a feeling or a vibe. Don’t worry about it.” Mukuro said dismissively before trying to move the conversation along.

“Any ways we’re not wrong are we? The boys dorms don’t have locks right?” Mukuro asked changing the subject and getting the trial back on track, hopefully Fujisaki wasn’t too suspicious of her…

“Yes… Now that you mention it, that is true.” Oogami said answering her question and pulling her away from her worrying thoughts. Its fine Fujisaki couldn’t possible link that comment to her sister’s plan.

They’d probably think it was a coincidence or they were reading too much into her statement. It was fine, she could do this Junko wouldn’t give her a job she couldn’t do.

“So… Why didn’t Makoto’s bathroom door open…?” Fujisaki asked uncertainly as if they were trying to distract themselves from something else.

“Because it was stuck,” Makoto explained as Kuwata gave him a look of annoyance and confusion.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Kuwata asked condescendingly. Either Naegi didn’t notice the baseball players condescending tone or he simply chose to ignore it as he responded without missing a beat.

“My bathroom door doesn’t fit the frame quite right.” Naegi said as Mukuro spoke up.

“Yeah, Naegi told me about it during the investigation so there’s no way he’s making it up and Monokuma can totally testify to it too.” She said waiting for her sister or rather the Monokuma being controlled by her sister to speak.

“Yep! True as true can be! But ya know… Makoto over there is supposed to be the Super High School Level Lucky Student, right? But to have such a cruddy door… Upupup! That’s not lucky at all!” Monokuma said laughing.

“I don’t know if it’s being used to prove his innocence then maybe it’s lucky that way?” Mukuro muttered causing the robotic bear to glare at her making her freeze in her tracks.

Monokuma looked at her for a few seconds and Mukuro felt the nervousness rise up in her at the prospect of having upset her sister when suddenly Monokuma burst out laughing.

“Boy some luck that it would take a murder to make Makoto’s room less cruddy!” Monokuma laughed and Mukuro found herself letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

“So the reason the door didn’t open was just because it was stuck. But the killer didn’t know that, and assumed it was locked. So they tore apart the doorknob to get in.” Kirigiri spoke up looking as though she wanted to get the trial back on track while also being tiered of listening to Monokuma speak.

“Okay, but then why would the killer even think the door was locked in the first place? Everyone should have known you can’t lock any of the boy’s bathrooms.” Celeste asked.

“Maybe the killer didn’t know it was a boy’s room” Mukuro offered, causing Celeste to have a slight look of confusion. The gambler looked as though she was about to ask another question when Kirigiri spoke up.

“The killer could easily make that mistake, thanks to one important detail about the scene of the crime,” Kirigiri said backing up Mukuro’s suggestion.

It was a weird feeling having the detective back her up. Before she hadn’t spent much time with Kirigiri partly because she didn’t want to slip up and have the Super High School Level Detective figure out her sisters plan, but for the most part because she spent a majority of her time by her sisters side.

Other than her sister the classmate she spent the most time around was Naegi.

But now Mukuro and Kirigiri were working towards the same goal, which was to get Naegi through this trial, though for different reasons.

Still relying in any situation on a person her sister once pointed out, as someone who could cause problems was strange to say the least. 

But right now she had know choice, Mukuro knew that her sister was right and her only talent was killing people… But she had to protect Naegi; she wanted him to make it through this trial. The only way that was going to happen was with the skills of the Super High School Level Detective.

All Mukuro could do was try and point everyone in the right direction and trust the detective knew what she was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first class trial is underway, I didn't want to make the chapters too long but I also wanted to have the full feel of a trial so the class trials will probably span into multiple chapters.


	4. And the one who killed Sayaka Maizono is-

“The killer must not have realized that it was my room.” Naegi stated in relation to the clues the detective had been dropping.

Mukuro wondered if she was the only one who noticed that Kirigiri was dropping hints on how to solve the case, maybe Mukuro noticed it because she was trying to drop clues herself.

But the bigger question was why was Kirigiri acting as a point man for this trial? Earlier the detective had practically said that it was important for Naegi to solve this case himself but was that all this was? Was the detective dropping clues so the others would accept who the culprit was more easily when the time came to expose the baseball player? Or had the fact that Junko erased the detective’s memories made it so the detective didn’t quite know how to use her talent right now and could only find clues?

Whatever the reason Mukuro supposed that it didn’t matter, what did matter was making sure that Naegi made it through this class trial alive.

With that thought in her mind Mukuro turned her attention back to her classmates reactions to Naegi’s statement.

“What!? Are you saying the culprit didn’t even know where he was? That’s… inconceivable!” Yamada exclaimed in shock and Mukuro found herself raising her eyebrow.

“And yet, he’s absolutely right” Kirigiri told him, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But for a Super High School Level Detective it might be.

“SAYWHAA!?” Yamada shouted in disbelief unable to say anything else from the shock of the supposed impossible scenario he probably had in his mind being suggested to be true.

“Maybe the killer got confused about which room was which” Mukuro suggested trying to push this line of reasoning when she glance in Kirigiri’s direction she noticed the detective was wearing a slightly pleased and confident smirk.

“Well, to be more specific…” Kirigiri began thoughtfully as if she was sorting the facts in her mind “what the killer didn’t know was that Makoto and Sayaka had switched rooms. Which is what led to the misunderstanding about the bathroom. If Sayaka had been in her own room, then…” Kirigiri explained leaving the last part as almost a prompt for the rest of the class to fill in the blanks.

“She would have been able to lock herself in just fine,” Mukuro finished for her.

“That’s right there would have been a lock on the door, and they would’ve had to break through!” Ishimaru exclaimed in realization. 

“So they had no idea how unnecessary their actions were…” Oogami noted,

“Well not exactly during the investigation, Makoto mentioned there was a trick to getting the bathroom door unstuck and since he knew the trick that’s basically proof he didn’t break the door,” Mukuro stated a little bit proud of her explanation, Oogami looked at Naegi for conformation that there was in fact a trick to opening the door and looked satisfied when he nervously nodded.

“Ultimately, we can’t know if it came open by force or simply by accident, but the killer must have been considerably confused, with no idea how they actually got the door opened.” Kirigiri stated simply.

“Regardless, it was a pointless act. Wasting time trying to break down a door that wasn’t locked is-” Togami began dismissively when Naegi interrupted him.

“-Definitely something I wouldn’t do, since I would’ve known exactly why it wasn’t opening. Right?” Makoto asked rhetorically while almost sounding hopeful that Togami would be convinced.

“That is… a definite possibility.” Togami admitted a bit reluctantly with a sigh, Mukuro narrowed her eyes at him, was he disappointed?

“So the killer would have to be someone who didn’t know they switched rooms?” Fujisaki half suggested, half asked as if the programmer was unsure of their own deductions.

Fujisaki was amazing as far as Mukuro was concerned; the fact that Junko has used their previous programming in Monokuma was proof enough of their skills. Mukuro never got why they weren’t more sure of themselves.

Unlike Mukuro who was only good for killing others, Fujisaki could do amazing things. Hell they’d even made an AI of themselves though when Mukuro and her twin took over the school Junko had erased the AI and done who knows what to the laptop it was on.

Mukuro had asked but Junko said it didn’t concern her so she’d stop thinking about it.

Well what Fujisaki was capable of and what Mukuro was capable of or what any of them were capable of she guesses it didn’t really matter in her sister’s world of despair not unless Junko said it did.

With that thought in mind Mukuro turned her attention back to the trial, she had to do her best to not miss anything or she could upset her sister and let Naegi down.

Neither were things Mukuro wanted to happen.

“Then Makoto *c-couldn’t* have done it!” Fukawa said in disbelief and Mukuro felt relief that Naegi’s innocence was finally being proved.

“This is one of those 'I told you so' moments right?” Mukuro asked the writer with a fake laugh while the writer cringed; maybe it was petty to pick on Fukawa like that but her constant accusations towards Naegi when she hadn’t even investigated had been annoying though Mukuro guesses she did have an excuse but Mukuro would rather the writer had kept quiet during the trial.

“Okay, then who *did* do it!?” Owada suddenly asked anger clear on his face, probably from the prospect that the murderer still hadn’t been found yet.

It shouldn’t have shocked Mukuro as much as it did but in that moment she realized that she’d been so busy on proving Naegi innocent she hadn’t been paying as much attention to proving Kuwata guilty, as she should have.

Not that helping her classmates solve the murders and getting through the class trials were any of her concern really, she hadn’t even expected to be part of the class trials…but if they did choose wrong then Naegi would…

But if they chose wrong Junko might get upset about her game ending so quickly! Junko had worked so hard on planning the mutual killing game that it couldn’t end so quickly! That’s right for Junko’s sake Mukuro should probably keep the game going for as long as possible, which meant getting through the class trials.

“I’m sorry, but I give up! Quit without saving!” Yamada said with a confident sounding voice, she hoped he was quoting something because why would he sound so confident if he couldn’t find the killer?

“You can’t quit! Do you think if we could that I would seriously be in this court room!?” Mukuro told him with an annoyed tone of voice referencing the previous reluctance to be part of class trials like she had before Junko changed the plan.

“But… what happens if we can’t decide on who we think did it?” Fujisaki asked hesitantly almost as if they didn’t want an answer.

“Well then, why don’t we just vote right now? Majority rules!” Ishimaru suggested, everyone even Kuwata who probably would have benefited from an early vote since there was little evidence against him at the moment stared at Ishimaru in disbelief.

“Majority rules? Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Kuwata asked his face looking as though he couldn’t believe Ishimaru had actually suggested such a thing.

“Yeah! Our necks are on the line here! Someone seriously needs to do something. For serious.” Hagakure nervously said, frankly Mukuro was impressed the fortuneteller hadn’t cracked yet considering he only just realized this was all actually real and actually happening a little while ago.

Personally Mukuro thought Hagakure would probably end up the first victim but guess not.

“If you all hadn’t decided just to pin it all on Naegi we wouldn’t be in this mess!” She told them in a tone that was a mix of fake and real anger.

“Does no one have any other thoughts or questions? It does not matter how trivial they may seem,” Celestia said ignoring Mukuro’s comment but before Mukuro could complain abut that fact Asahina spoke up.

“Oh as a matter of fact, I do have one question!” The swimmer exclaimed causing a look of slight disappointment to fall on the gamblers face.

“Oh… you…” Celeste muttered.

“You don’t gotta sound so disappointed!” Asahina said annoyance towards the gambler clear on her face,

“Yeah! We need what ever we can get to move this trial along!” Mukuro defended the swimmer hoping Asahina’s question would end up being relevant.

Huh? Was Asahina smiling at her?

“Oh… you as well…” Celeste muttered the same disappointed look now directed in Mukuro’s direction.

“What!?” Mukuro said in shock and annoyance before Ishimaru spoke but before she could say anything else, which was probably for the best since it would be bad if the trial kept getting off track.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, Miss Asahina just ask your question!” he said or well ordered.

“Oh yeah! Okay, so, umm…” Asahina muttered; the swimmer then glanced at Ogami who gave her a nod. With a breath Asahina continued more confidently, it was weird how the swimmer could draw strength was another person like that but Mukuro guesses it was the same with her and Junko they were all each other had after all. 

“Well, I was just wondering, how’d the culprit get into Makoto’s room in the first place,” Asahina asked causing looks of realization to fall on the class as they began to wonder the same thing, Mukuro herself wondered how she could get them to figure out that it was the dead idol herself that let the killer into Naegi’s room.

“Hmm… Yes, how *did* the killer get inside?” Ogami muttered in agreement with her friend.

“Maybe Sayaka just dropped the key somewhere and the culprit picked it up. That’s possible, right?” Kuwata suggested and Mukuro tried to resist the urge to glare at him.

‘Maybe the culprit just picked it up’ Kuwata knew more than anyone that’s not what happened.

“I don’t think so. That seems way too convenient.” Ishimaru responded to the baseball star.

“Plus I don’t think anyone would be careless enough to drop their keys when they’re scared of the crazy situation we’re in,” Mukuro stated hoping she didn’t sound too unlike her sister, she didn’t really want to say anything but Junko would never keep quiet like that but was she talking to much?

Mukuro just had to try her best right? If anyone could mimic her sister she at least had a shot since she was the one that knew Junko best right?

“Then… maybe someone picked the lock?” Fujisaki uncertainly suggested.

“Negative! If you remember, Monokuma made it quite clear that the locks are all unpickable.” Ishimaru quickly shot down.

“Fine, how about this? The killer got in the easy way.” Yamada suggested catching Mukuro’s attention, it was rare to see Yamada make a statement that wasn’t a reference to something.

“The easy way?” Mukuro asked feeling she had to say something in the midst of her surprise as Yamada chuckled slightly pleased to have grabbed someone’s attention as he played detective.

“They could’ve knocked and said they wanted to talk or something, and Miss Maizono just… let ‘em in!” Yamada told her his voice a strange mix of confidence and uncertainty, it was obvious he was making guesses right now but he was on the right track. 

After all Maizono did invite the killer into her room…

“No, that can’t be it, either” Naegi said and Mukuro tried to hide her frown. She knew how much Naegi liked to trust people, when they first started Hopes peak he was one of the few people willing to interact with her while her soldier status scared most of the others off… It would be hard convincing him that the dead idol let the Kuwata in herself… that Maizono tried to frame him for murder.

Trying to resist the temptation to curse the dead idol under her breath, Mukuro turned her attention back to the class trial where Yamada was confronting Naegi for challenging his argument.

“O-HO! Trying to argue against me? Sounds like someone doesn’t know his place!” Yamada began with what had better be mock anger “Hello!? Why, exactly, can’t that be it!?” Yamada asked, he probably wanted to have a go at playing detective and didn’t like anyone disagreeing with his deductions.

Mukuro found her eyes straying over to Kirigiri, the rest of them could play detective all they wanted but they were nothing compared to the real thing. Even without her memories Kirigiri seemed to have the best idea of what was going on.

Kyoko Kirigiri had arguably been leading the trial to where it needed to go and that fact that Mukuro couldn’t seem to manage that even though she’d witnessed the murder take place and all the detective had were her deductions brought about by skills she didn’t know she had was frankly kind of unnerving to Mukuro.

Mukuro could face nearly any opponent on a regular battlefield; some had even referred to her as a force of nature. But her sister and the detective regularly spent time on a different kind of battlefield one that despite all her training Mukuro would never feel equipped to stand on.

The detective suddenly noticed Mukuro staring and met her with a glance of her own, her eyes observing her. It didn’t feel like other times Kirigiri had looked at her as if assessing her threat level, this time the detective looked at her with something that if Mukuro would have to guess she’d say was curiosity. Maybe because right now Kirigiri knew her as a fashion girl not a soldier.

Quickly breaking eye contact with the detective Mukuro looked away, Junko would get mad at her if she attracted Kirigiri’s attention after all. She found her eyes falling onto Naegi as she hastily looked away from Kirigiri. 

It seemed Naegi had been thinking about something before answering Yamada but was now ready to speak, “Because Sayaka was already scared, remember? That’s why she asked to switch rooms in the first place.” He answered a slightly pained look on his face as if he was remembering his last conversation with the dead idol.

Mukuro never really knew how to comfort people; there was no need for things like compassion on the battlefield Fenrir had been of the belief that something such as that would only hold the group back and her sibling relationship with Junko wasn’t typical so she never learnt it there… but still she wished she could do something to make the slightly pained look on Naegi’s face go away.

His smile suited him better.

But she didn’t really know how to do anything for him so she simply did what she always did when it came to Naegi.

She watched him.

She watched him take a slight breath as he continued his explanation, “knowing what she’d been through, I just can’t believe she would have opened the door for anyone.” Naegi said and Mukuro tried to ignore the little whisper in her head saying ‘but she did open the door Naegi’.

“What if she did open the door though?” Mukuro asked before she even realized the words were coming out of her mouth causing some surprise from Naegi.

“Huh?” The boy asked in confusion and Mukuro suddenly found herself very unsure of what to do next; she pulled her gaze away from Naegi and looked towards a wall of the courtroom not really wanting to look at any of her classmates.

“…What if she wasn’t as scared as you thought? …What if… Nah, it’s nothing forget I said anything!” Mukuro said trying to force herself back into the cheerful persona her sister had taught her to do but it felt like she was worse at it in that moment than she usually was.

Junko would probably be annoyed at her for being unconvincing, but maybe the despair of it all would enough to put her sister in a good mood.

“I believe what Junko is trying to say is what if her being scared was a lie?” Kirigiri suddenly spoke up asking her question just as Mukuro had finished talking almost as if she was picking up where Mukuro had left off.

“Huh?” Was all Naegi said once more as Mukuro rushed to speak, “I’m not saying that Naegi! I was just thinking that maybe-“ Mukuro fumbled to defend herself when Naegi suddenly spoke up.

“Wh- what the hell is that supposed to mean!? Why would she lie about something like that!?” Naegi asked angrily scolding the two girls and Mukuro felt herself flinch, she’d never really done anything that had made Naegi upset with her before, she didn’t like it.

“Because of the situation we’re all in…” Mukuro found herself muttering an answer to Naegi’s probably rhetorical question only for him to have another confused look on his face as if he didn’t know how to respond while the detective spoke up again.

“I know you don’t want to consider it, but look at this and tell me… can you still deny the possibility?” Kirigiri asked showing Naegi a note, revealing that Maizono had invited someone to her room.

“I found a notepad during my search, and I shaded in the top sheet with a pencil. And these are the words that appeared.” Kirigiri explained as Naegi stared at the note in disbelief.

“Oh man, I’ve totally seen people do that on detective shows! When you write, it can leave an imprint. Sketch over the next sheet of paper, and you can see the words! When I saw that, I was like ‘Holy crap! I better make sure I rip the paper out before I use it from now on!’” Asahina said explaining the trick with excitement.

“It’s a pretty old-fashioned technique, but even the classics can be surprisingly useful sometimes.” Kirigiri said a slight smirk on her face.

“Well there’s a reason classics become classics,” Mukuro stated in a matter of fact voice Junko sometimes used.

It was probably her imagination but for a second it looked as though Kirigiri smiled at her before the detective started speaking again “True. Oh and I should also mention… I found the notepad on the desk in Makoto’s room.” She said causing a look of surprise on Makoto’s face.

“Which means, only someone who had been in Makoto’s room before the incident could have written it.” Kirigiri explained.

“Then either it was Makoto, who lived there, or Sayaka who switched rooms for a single night…” Togami observed.

“So, Makoto… did you write this?” Kirigiri asked simply as Naegi looked away.

“N-no, I didn’t. But-“ Naegi admitted while trying to come up with a reason for the notes existence when Kirigiri interrupted him.

“Of course you didn’t. Because the note also bears a perfectly legible signature- Sayaka’s signature.” Kirigiri stated simply and Mukuro suddenly found Naegi looking at her.

“Did you know about this too Junko?” Naegi asked as Mukuro found herself not being able to meet his eyes.

“N-not really… but I kind of had a feeling she’d do something like this… she was so on edge you know…” Mukuro muttered the first part was true she hadn’t known about the note but she hadn’t know about Sayaka’s intentions until the murder, her sister was the Super High School Level Analyst after all not her.

Meanwhile Naegi had a look that reminded her in a way of a lost child “B-but why? Why would she write that?” he asked.

Mukuro felt herself frowning, Naegi was going to learn the truth about what Maizono did… and it would hurt him.

“The note was likely her way of getting in touch with a certain someone.” Kirigiri stated, the detective was stating the facts as coldly as ever but also carefully than Mukuro expected, maybe for Naegi’s sake.

If that was the case Mukuro was grateful, but it was probably just her imagining things right?

“The murderer?” Mukuro prompted as Kirigiri gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement. 

“It would not be difficult to assume that the person who received this note and the person who killed Sayaka Maizono were one in the same,” Kirigiri agreed “she must have slid it under their door to let them know she wanted to meet with them in secret.”

Yamada spoke up as soon as the detective finished speaking “If you got an invitation like that from the Super High School Level Idol, what young man could resist?” Yamada stated.

“Heck even a girl would be tempted!” Mukuro stated flashing a smile and a Cheshire cat grin.

“Whoa!” Asahina remarked in shock while Fukawa looked like she was about to have a heart attack and Mukuro couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes.

“Relax would you? I was joking,” Mukuro said as anyone surprised by her statement began to calm down. Junko sometimes made jokes like that but maybe it wasn’t the best idea?

Mukuro couldn’t really understand what the big deal was though, she hadn’t ever really thought about having a romantic partner, sometime she’d get silly, impossible thoughts when Naegi smiled at her but all she ever really needed was Junko. But if Mukuro were to date someone it wouldn’t matter what gender they were.

“Of course, I’m only into 2D so it wouldn’t have any effect on me!” Yamada stated proudly, maybe he was trying to prove that he wasn’t the culprit by saying he wasn’t interested in the Idol?

But still…

“Oh my god do you even hear yourself?” she complained, there were certain moments where she realized very strange people surrounded her.

But the again when had she ever been normal? She hadn’t had the chance for a normal, peaceful life since her sister was born.

“… But how can we be sure anyone even got this note?” Celestia suddenly questioned. “And honestly, even if they did, I do not think they are at all involved in what happened”

“Huh? What makes you say that?” Fujisaki asked in amazement as Celestia had a smug look on her face.

“Hmhm… Would you like to hear what I have to say? Very well, then. Pay attention!” The gambler said with a subtle smile before beginning her argument, Mukuro made sure that the gambler had her full attention.

What was Celestia talking? Had she noticed something they hadn’t?

Maizono did call Kuwata to Naegi’s room and the baseball player did kill the idol, that Mukuro knew so why did Celestia think otherwise?

“Sayaka and Makoto switched rooms, correct?” Celeste asked as Mukuro nodded, they seemed to go over what they knew a lot to try and find out what they didn’t know. It was repetitive but it did seem to work.

“Yeah that right, what about it?” Mukuro asked curiously as she watched the gambler look pleased with herself.

“But in the note, the place they were asked to come to… It specifically says ‘my’ room” Celestia stated pausing in the middle for dramatic effect.

“I see… So if some one read that note… then they would have gone to Sayaka’s room!” Fujisaki observed and Mukuro found herself frowning at that line of thought.

She didn’t know why but she felt like that statement was wrong… something Naegi had noticed during the investigation…

“Exactly. The room Makoto was staying in.” Celestia finished when Naegi’s voice called out once again.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

Mukuro turned her gaze over to Naegi; he must have realized it too.

The gambler looked slightly annoyed at someone trying to shoot down her argument but it only lasted for a second before her expression turned to one of slight amusement, the Super High School Level Gambler certainly had a poker face befitting of her title.

“Oh? And what would make you say that Makoto?” Celestia asked though her tone sounded almost as if she was daring Naegi to go against her. Mukuro didn’t really view Celestia as much of a threat but she jumped to Naegi’s defense at the gamblers use of slight intimidation.

“I’m with Naegi on this one, we noticed something weird during the investigation,” Mukuro stated causing a slight look of curiosity to fall on Celestia’s face thought to be honest it was a bit hard to tell.

“Oh? And what would that be?” the gambler questioned.

“The nameplates on my and Sayaka’s rooms got switched.” Naegi explained.

“They got… switched?” Celestia said in disbelief though the shock itself could just be an act.

“That’s right. The nameplates got switched, just like the rooms themselves. As a result, the nameplates on Sayaka’s room actually had Makoto’s name. And the nameplate on Makoto’s room had Sayaka’s.” Kirigiri explained speaking up, Mukuro wasn’t surprised that the detective had found this out herself as well.

“So what your saying is, the room Sayaka was staying in was actually marked as her room.” Togami noted causing a slight nod from the detective.

“Then… if someone *did* do what the note said, they would end up in Makoto’s room, where Sayaka was…” Fujisaki stated as if fitting the pieces together in their head.

“Plus, their rooms are right next to each other. So switching the nameplates would be no problem.” Kirigiri added thoughtfully “and the one who switched the nameplates was… Well of course it wasn’t you, right Makoto?”

“R-right…” Naegi answered the detectives question uncertainly; he’s going to learn what the idol did soon. Mukuro wished he didn’t have to after all even if he didn’t remember their time at Hopes Peak Maizono and Naegi have always been close…. But Naegi needed to know the truth.

If he wanted to survive he had to face Maizono’s betrayal no matter how much despair that would bring.

“Okay… then who did it?” Kuwata asked nervously, the baseball star must be uncomfortable at the fact that the class was getting closer and closer to figuring out what happened.

Naegi hesitated before answering, was he thinking of the answer or was he having trouble saying it out loud?

“Me and Sayaka were the only ones who ever knew about us switching rooms. So the only other person besides me who would even know to switch the nameplates… was Sayaka.” Naegi said a mix of pain and disbelief dripping from his voice.

Mukuro found her head turning away unable to keep looking at the pain making its way into his eyes. Was this her fault?

“You can also infer as much from her note…” Kirigiri stated taking out the note as evidence once again, Naegi has begun to look paler but either the detective didn’t notice this or didn’t care because Kirigiri simply continued talking, “she specifically tells the reader to check the nameplate. She would have only have written that if she knew the nameplates had been switched.”

“But… why would she switch them in the first place?” Fujisaki asked.

“Maybe… maybe she wanted to do something that she couldn’t do in her own room…” Mukuro muttered; this was hard she’d only ever hurt Naegi once before when she and Junko took over the school but he didn’t even remember that! But the memories of Sayaka’s betrayal weren’t going to get conveniently erased.

“You might be on to something Junko,” Kirigiri stated grabbing her attention before the detective looked thoughtful, “it’s clear she wanted someone to come to the room she was in, and *also* hide the fact that it was Makoto’s room.”

Naegi looked at both Mukuro and Kirigiri in disbelief “What?” he muttered in disbelief, his tone making Mukuro feel as though she should be very careful with her next actions.

However it was the swimmer who spoke next, “Inviting someone to ‘your’ room, but not telling them you’d switched rooms… why would anyone do that?... Junko what did you mean when you said something she couldn’t do in her own room?” Asahina asked.

Mukuro found herself looking away from everyone else her worried gaze shifting over to Naegi, before she had a chance to speak, to try and come up with a way to answer the swimmers question Kirigiri spoke up.

“To understand that… we first need to understand what happened after she invited the person into the room. That’s where the answer lies…” Kirigiri noted

“What happened then was… probably… Whoever she invited over… came in, and… attacked her! We figured it out! We know who did it! Whoever she invited over is the culprit!” Ishimaru exclaimed.

“But we still don’t know who it is, ya goddamn idiot…” Owada muttered in annoyance. 

“I’m with Ishimaru on the whole ‘who ever she invited over is the killer’ thing but I don’t think they were the one to attack when they came in…” Mukuro noted,

“Huh? What do you mean?” Owada questioned, this would have been a good moment to reveal that Maizono most likely planned to commit murder but she eyes drifted over to Naegi who was looking increasingly pale and distraught and the words caught in her throat.

“… It’s nothing, forget I said anything” Mukuro said quickly looking away. She was a coward, why couldn’t she just say that the idol had tried to kill one of them? Maizono was at fault here not her! But she couldn’t… she couldn’t be the one to reveal what Maizono do to Naegi… she just couldn’t.

Celestia had no problem disregarding what Mukuro had said and started speaking “Sayaka fought her killer there in the room, yes? Perhaps the answer to our previous question lies in that initial struggle,” Celestia suggested.

“Yes, I think you’re right.” Kirigiri admitted; Mukuro had tried to keep an eye on the detective throughout this trial which was probably what Junko would want her to do and Mukuro noted that she didn’t look as smug as she did when Mukuro made a statement the detective agreed with for some reason.

“Then… we just have to figure out what happened during the fight, right?” Asahina noted her voice had a mix of what might be excitement.

Mukuro got the feeling that the class wanted the class trial to be over as soon as possible.

“That reminds me… There was a replica sword at the murder scene. Was that perhaps used during the fight?” Sakura asked,

“It’s possible I remember there was some paint missing from it so it was probably used for something other than decoration during the murder,” Mukuro mentioned.

“Oh yeah I noticed that too, what’s the deal with that sword?” Owada asked probably wondering what it was doing in the room, after all it wasn’t like all rooms had a sword in them.

“Sayaka suggested I should hold on to it. I thought it might come in handy if I had to defend myself…” Naegi explained and Mukuro had to keep herself from frowning again, Naegi tended to get into situations her he needed help or saving a lot so the idea of him trying to defend himself by himself was almost funny but Mukuro was mostly annoyed at herself, of course he’s be worried in this situation and she’d been so focuses on following Junko’s plan that she hadn’t thought about protecting the one person who probably needed protection the most.

She tried to pay attention as Naegi continued but she kept feeling like she should have realized how easily Naegi could get into trouble sooner. Trying to push down her feelings of frustration towards herself she listened to what Naegi was saying. “It seems pretty likely that the killer used it to break Sayaka’s right wrist.” He stated.

“How the hell could you possibly know that’s what broke her wrist!?” Kuwata asked and Mukuro quickly found the feelings of frustration towards herself being replaced by feelings of annoyance towards the baseball player.

He was really starting to get on her nerves and not just because he had put Naegi in danger.

“All you have to do is take a good look at her broken wrist, and it should become pretty clear. Right there were her wrist is all swollen, there’s something glittery there, see?” Naegi pointed out.

“Is… is that gold?” Fujisaki asked slight surprise in their voice.

“It sure is. Specifically, the gold coating from the replica sword. Junko mentioned that she noticed that some of the paint was missing from the sword it wouldn’t be hard to believe that some of it came off and got on Sayaka when it hit her, after all you barely have to touch that stuff and it’ll stick right to you.” Naegi said explaining the presence of the gold paint on Sayaka.

“So that’s pretty much proof that the sword was used to hit Maizono’s wrist,” Mukuro noted.

“I see, I see… And so the truth draws ever closer…” Yamada muttered and Mukuro rolled her eyes. He was really getting into this though Mukuro guesses that wasn’t a problem, Junko might be happy with that.

She can imagine that her sister would want people to get caught up in the mutual killing game.

“Alright! Then it’s about time to solve this mystery!” Hagakure declared, huh? That was weird she hadn’t expected him to get close to solving the case; the fortuneteller had always liked to exist in a little world of his own.

“What do you have an idea?” Mukuro asked voicing her surprise and maybe just a tiny bit of curiosity as Hagakure smirked at her.

“As a matter of fact I do! When the fighting broke out the culprit grabbed the sword and that’s when the first blow was dealt a sword based sneak attack!” the fortuneteller announced before a phrase that was stating to become familiar in the trial shot him down.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

“Actually, no I don’t think the fight started with the sword. “ Naegi stated as Hagakure had a look of disappointment and confusion on his face.

“Huh? Why not?” the fortuneteller asked.

“Because the sword’s sheath had been scratched.” Naegi explained, “See? There’s a gash in it, like someone cut into it with something sharp.”

“Something sharp… You mean, like the kitchen knife? That was the only sharp thing found at the scene…” Fujisaki said, the first part sounded more like a statement than a question and didn’t seem to be quite as timid as the previous times Fujisaki has spoken in the trial, maybe they were getting close to the truth behind this case.

“Stop jumpin’ ahead! Slow down and explain it so I get what the hell’s goin’ on!” Owada complained; Mukuro clenched her fist at that, every time it seemed like they were making progress something like this happen, someone didn’t understand something. Maybe the trial seemed to be moving so slowly because she already knew the answer but it was becoming increasingly difficult to not become frustrated.

Junko used to always say that it was easy to get Mukuro wound up.

Mukuro wasn’t like Junko who exhibited her emotions outwardly; she tended to internalize stuff like that. How else would you survive in war zones? So to most people she was a blank slate though her twin knew how deeply she could feel things, like Mukuro understood that the emotions Junko displayed in front of other people were just a show for their benefit, Junko understood that Mukuro wasn’t nearly as stoic as she appeared because the twins were the only ones that could understand each other.

“Come on! What’s there even not to get the knife it the sword right?” Mukuro complained as Owada grumbled.

“Yes but if the sword was used first, there wouldn’t be any explanation for the scratch on the sheath. If you were going to attack with the sword, you’d take it out of the sheath first, right?” Makoto suggested as Mukuro nodded thinking back Kuwata had used the sword to try and defend himself but how could she explain that to get the others to figure it out?

“What if they tried to use it as a blunt weapon?” Mukuro suggested waiting to see who would be the person to shoot down her statement and how that would move their progress along.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just use the sword? I mean with the sheath on, it’d be heavy and bulky and useless as shit.” Owada told her, had he figured that out or was it just a way of getting back at her for complaining about the last time he spoke?

“Okay, so how *did* the sheath get damaged?” Yamada asked 

“Well the only thing I can think of is that if someone were attacking you it’s not like you wouldn’t grab the closest object for defense” Mukuro muttered wondering if that was saying too much, though when she was in danger she was a lot calmer than normal high school student the others looked at her with some confusion when suddenly Kirigiri spoke up, Mukuro wondered if the detective already figured out everything about the case already and if the other girl was also getting tiered of trying to lead their class to the answer.

“If they got attacked with the kitchen knife, maybe they grabbed the sword as a defensive impulse. In that situation, there wouldn’t be any time to actually unsheathe the sword.” Kirigiri clarified Mukuro’s previous statement; it still felt strange working with the detective towards the same goal. She wondered what Kirigiri thought of her, it’s not like they ever really knew each other after all Junko had warned her to stay away from the Super High School Level Detective.

“So the two of you are saying the sword was initially used to defend against an attack from the knife…” Oogami noted thoughtfully while Mukuro had to keep herself from flinching, it felt weird for Oogami to say ‘the two of you’ after all Mukuro had never been part of any pair other than her and Junko.

“Which means whoever had the kitchen knife… was the one who attacked first!” Yamada declared as if he was the one who figured it all out.

“Not to burst your bubble or anything like that, I mean I think your right but… Maizono was the one with the kitchen knife right?” Mukuro put forward, it was really risky putting something so important to the to the case directly out like that but she really wanted to move the trial along, she guesses that she wasn’t much different from the rest of her class mates in that sense.

There was an uneasy silence when Ishimaru spoke up coming up with an explanation “Yes! Clearly what happened was that the culprit came in, found the kitchen knife hidden the somewhere…. Then they took the knife and attacked Sayaka before she knew what was happening! So she grabbed the sword to defend herself, but then the culprit took that away from her, too…then, after they broke her wrist with the sword… they took the knife and… finished it…” Ishimaru clearly looked like he was upsetting himself with the scene he was imagining so Mukuro decided that she should probably intervene with this line of thought.

“No that doesn’t sound right,” she shot down much to Ishimaru’s surprise though that could have been him shaking himself out of whatever scene he was imagining.

“What makes you say that?” he asked causing her to shrug because she hadn’t thought of a proper response when though it seemed like she didn’t need to because the detective responded for her.

“It’s hard to believe that Sayaka used the sword to defend herself,” Kirigiri added in causing the attention that was on Mukuro to be transferred to the detective, Mukuro felt just a little bit grateful at that.

“Wh-!? How the hell do you come up with that!?” Kuwata complained and Mukuro found herself raising an eyebrow, did Kuwata want his victim to be seen as an actual victim?

“Because she never held the sword at all. There’s a certain part of her body that makes this clear.” Kirigiri told him and Mukuro watched as Naegi began to look thoughtful.

“You’re talking about her palms, right? The palms of her hands were perfectly clean, so I don’t think she ever picked up the sword…” Naegi noted thoughtfully.

“Yeah didn’t you say that the paint sticks to you if you touched the sword? So if she had used it her hands would have been covered with the stuff!” Mukuro said with a grin and a peace sign though that didn’t seem to make Naegi feel any better who was looking even more thoughtful, was he getting close to the truth?

“Maybe she w-washed her hands after she e-escaped into the bathroom…” Fukawa said though Mukuro wasn’t sure if the writer actually believed that or just didn’t want to agree with any point Mukuro made because they had been arguing earlier in the trial.

Before Mukuro could try and come up with a Junko like retort against the writer Naegi spoke, which was probably for the best. This trial was very important to him after all he should be the one to ‘solve’ it. “No sorry, I don’t think so.” Naegi said it looked as though he was close to figuring the case out, he looked tiered. Fukawa was quick to complain about Naegi going against her statement but he quickly told her his explanation “According to the Monokuma file, Sayaka’s time of death was around 1:30 a.m. In other words, at ‘nighttime.’ And the water in the bathroom shuts off at nighttime, right?” 

“Oh… I didn’t know that. Actually… I haven’t taken a shower here yet…” Fukawa admitted, 

“Really all this time!?” Mukuro blurted out because she knew Junko would never let a comment like that slip.

“Oh my…” Yamada muttered and she did not want to know what he was thinking.

“Y-you two are no different! You both s-smell like a big f-fat ugly donkey!” Fukawa yelled.

“Excuse me!?” Mukuro said in shock, she wasn’t really used to being insulted by people other than Junko most people were to scared to insult her, though Mukuro could practically hear Junko laughing at the writer’s comment.

“Hmm? I’m not sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment!” Yamada noted, causing Mukuro to flinch.

“An insult, obviously…” Kuwata said in disbelief.

“Gross! No one lump me in with him okay!” Mukuro complained causing Yamada to laugh to himself, it was best not to think about whether or no he was enjoying this.

“… So anyway, if Sayaka never touched the sword, then that means… The killer is the only one who used the sword. But hold on. If that’s right, then the one who damaged the sheath with the kitchen knife was…” Ishimaru said and Mukuro felt herself swallowing her mouth suddenly dry, was this it were they finally going to admit what the dead Idol tried to do?

“Sayaka…? She had the kitchen knife…?” Naegi said his voice dripping with shock, Mukuro felt like Naegi had been close to realizing this for a while but she guesses its one thing to have a passing thought in something you don’t want to be true and another thing entirely to admit it out loud.

“But… we already said that the attack started with…” Fujisaki muttered in slight confusion.

“The person with the knife attack first, and the sword was used as an impromptu defense.” Togami stated and it looked like he was beginning to realize what happened as well along with the rest of the class though unlike most of the others he didn’t look nearly as shocked at the prospect of what was being implied.

“Then the one who attacked first was…!” Yamada murmured in shock as Naegi finished the statement.

“…S-Sayaka!?” Naegi said shock and disbelief clear in both his face and voice, Mukuro felt herself frown she knew this would happen eventually in this trial she knew that Naegi would get hurt like this but for some reason seeing his shocked face, seeing his reaction to being hurt and betrayed kind of hurt her as well, and it also made her feel angry, she was very close to biting her lip but if she did that right now she knew that her anger would cause her to bight hard enough to draw blood.

Unsurprisingly to Mukuro the calmest person in the room was the detective “Now do you understand? She wasn’t a blameless victim in this.” Kirigiri stated though at the very least her expression could be interpreted as her feeling sorry for Naegi’s betrayal Togami’s on the other hand could not.

“No, far from it. It’s almost as if… she had been planning to commit a murder of her own.” Togami noted smugly and the distraught face Naegi made at the statement did not stop Togami from continuing, “She took the knife from the kitchen, then invited the culprit to the room she was staying in. And if it’s true that she had the kitchen knife and attacked without provocation-“

“Shut up!” Mukuro yelled interrupting Togami though whatever reaction she had to that she didn’t know and she didn’t care; she wasn’t looking at him though her eyes were locked on to where Naegi stood who was looking more and more shocked with every passing second.

Celestia must have noticed where she was looking because she started speaking “it’s no good trying to protect him, after all Sayaka was the one who suggested she and Makoto switch rooms, correct? Maybe the reason she wanted to switch rooms… was so she could pin the crime on him. That is a possibility, is it not?” Celestia suggested.

“Sayaka wanted to- on me!?” Makoto said in disbelief while Mukuro looked at him with a weird pain in her chest, she didn’t know how to help people, she didn’t know how to comfort him. Out of the corner of her eye Mukuro noticed that Kirigiri was also watching Naegi with what might be quite concern.

“That would also explain why she would switch the nameplates. She wanted to get whomever she had targeted to come to Makoto’s room, where she was staying… And by committing the murder there, instead of her room, that would implicate Makoto. But for that to work, the target had to be lured out while still keeping the room swap a secret. If the target knew she had switched rooms, they would have become suspicious right away.” Celestia continued.

“I said shut up!” Mukuro said again as she watched Naegi look shell shocked with a horrified look on his face but it seemed as though she was being ignored.

“So all that’s why she switched the names?” Owada asked though it looked as though he asked it reluctantly so it seems as though he had some respect for Mukuro telling them all to stop, but she guesses the need for continuing the trial out weighed Naegi’s need for time to process Maizono’s betrayal.

It was funny, she had wanted the trial to move forward and now that it had she wanted it to stop, and Naegi’s horror made her feel sick.

“But doesn’t that plan seem a little risky?” Yamada hesitantly spoke up and asked, “for one thing, even if her plan worked, Mr. Naegi would just tell everyone that’d they’d switched rooms.”

“You didn’t believe him when he said they switched rooms during the investigation!” Mukuro yelled angrily finding the frustration that she had felt towards her classmates at the start of the trial when they were all accusing Naegi of murder was easier to focus on that the sad look on Naegi’s face.

“Besides, I’m not sure our softhearted Makoto is capable of that kind of cutthroat behavior. I’m sure Sayaka realized the same thing, which is why out of all of us, she asked him to switch rooms.” Togami said while Naegi continued to remain quite and Mukuro felt herself grinding her teeth, Naegi was the kindest person she had ever met and she hated that Maizono had taken advantage of that.

If Maizono’s plan had worked Junko wouldn’t have needed an execution for her, Mukuro would have gladly killed the idol herself.

“P-plus… she *was* the Super High School Level Idol… A t-totally forgettable kid, o-or a national superstar… Who are you m-more likely to believe?” Fukawa said looking a bit smug and Mukuro allowed herself to bight her lip, Naegi was *not* forgettable she may have said something similar to Junko when referring to the fact that Naegi wasn’t a threat to the plan but his kindness and his smile… they were special.

“Wait, then… you’re saying she had all of this planned out?” Yamada asked looking a bit disturbed.

“Holy shit!” Owada exclaimed which Mukuro would admit seemed like an appropriate response.

“But in the end, her plan backfired. She launched her attack with the knife, and then found herself under attack in turn. That must be when her wrist got broken, and she was forced to drop the knife.” Celestia remarked.

“The tables were suddenly turned on her, and she died at the hands of the one she’d planned to murder…” Oogami noted with what might have been a slight sadness at the idols plan in her voice.

“J-just hold on! That can’t be true! Because…! Because…” Naegi protested desperately trying to think of an argument.

“Naegi…” Mukuro muttered when suddenly her sister’s Monokuma spoke up.

“Hey, hey! You guys have totally derailed the argument! You’re being super boring right now! Come on, hurry up and decide who did it! Wouldn’t it be awful if I had to punish you all just because you ran out of time?” The bear joked.

“Oh yeah… We gotta decide who we think did it…” Hagakure muttered as though he was remembering something unpleasant.

Mukuro tried to push her feelings down; she had to remember why she was doing this! This trial, this game, this was all what Junko wanted and she had to make sure that her sister was happy!

“Monokuma’s right, yeah we know what Sayaka was trying to do but we still have to figure out who she tried to kill!” Mukuro stated though she didn’t sound as forward, as she should have done, her eyes kept drifting over to Naegi…

“Makoto, right now you just need to concentrate on figuring out the answer to this mystery. If we can’t uncover who murdered Sayaka, it’s over for all of us…” Kirigiri told Naegi almost as if she were comforting him, Mukuro had to fight down her disappointment, it didn’t matter all that mattered was making Junko happy!

But part of her kind of wished she were the one that could say something comforting to Naegi.

“Look it’s easy just to say ‘hey decide who did it!’ But there just aren’t any more clues right?” Kuwata said and Mukuro nearly snarled at the baseball player who was probably just trying to buy himself time and save himself when Naegi’s voice rang out throughout the courtroom.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

The look of determination seemed to be coming back into Naegi’s eyes.

“There still might be one clue left- Sayaka’s dying message.” Naegi said, the look in Naegi eyes returning and causing something that Mukuro didn’t know the name for to grow inside her heart.

“Oh yeah, you and Kirigiri were talking about that during the investigation!” Mukuro said excitedly, she wasn’t sure if she was happy that the trial moving forward would please Junko or that Naegi no longer looked helpless and shell shocked.

“Dinning- wait, what did you say?” Kuwata asked beginning to look nervous.

“The dying message. She wrote something on the wall behind her, remember? 11037, written in her own blood. There must be a clue about the killer hidden in there…” Kirigiri stated,

“Well, before we get too far into that, I need to ask… Can we really be sure Sayaka is the one who wrote it?” Celestia asked and Naegi nodded.

“Her left index finger had blood on it. That could only be because she used that finger to write the message.” Naegi replied as Ishimaru nodded at his explanation.

“I see… She broke her wrist during the fight, so she’d have to use her left hand to write…” The hall monitor noted.

“Sure, I think we can all agree Sayaka wrote it, but still… What the heck do those numbers mean? 11037?” Asahina asked in frustration and confusion the swimmer looked as if she was at the end of her rope, Mukuro hadn’t realized when her sister was planning everything how emotionally taxing these trials would be though she guesses that was probably the point.

“I know what you mean, usually dying messages are like the culprits names or something right?” Mukuro noted of all the things the idol could have written why numbers?

“Hey Chihiro, you’re a computer nerd or whatever right? You should know all about numbers and shit!” Owada said and Mukuro found herself rolling her eyes, surprisingly Fujisaki didn’t look timid as if Owada’s incorrectness was stopping them from falling in on themselves, maybe that’s why Fujisaki and Owada became friends the first time?

“N-No that’s not… Yes, I’m a programmer, but I don’t see any kind of meaning in these numbers.” Fujisaki noted thoughtfully.

“… Of course. It’s because they’re not numbers.” Kirigiri stated eyes widening in realization.

“Huh? Not numbers?” Mukuro asked in confusion as the detective smirked at her.

“Don’t you see? You were the one that said a dying message is usually the culprits name,” Kirigiri told her with an almost playful glint in her eye before Mukuro could respond Yamada spoke up.

“Oh! Yeah, it looks like…” Yamada said in agreement hesitating slightly as if thinking.

“Huh? What? What?” Owada prompted.

“No, it’s just… look at the numbers assuming they’re *not* numbers. Don’t these first two, 11, look less like two numbers and more like one letter?” Yamada pointed out and honestly Mukuro was a bit surprised she had assumed that Yamada had only agreed with Kirigiri to try and look more competent she didn’t expect that he would actually understand what the Detective was talking about much less have an explanation.

“Ah, you’re right! The connecting line is barley there, so I just assumed it was 11, but… Looking at it now, you could also read it as an N!” Fujisaki marveled at the discovery, they were kind of like a little kid discovering a prize in a cereal box.

“Whoa! You might’ve finally just said something worth a shit!” Owada praised portraying Mukuro’s own thoughts. Well at least someone said it.

“Wait ago Yamada!” Mukuro congratulated smiling widely and giving him a peace sign, which was friendly enough.

Yamada laughed at the praise “Our little grey cells are really getting excited now!” He said happily, huh? She didn’t know that Yamada liked Agatha Christie.

“But even if that really is an N, N037 doesn’t make any more sense than before…” Oogami said thoughtfully cutting into the celebratory mood.

Naegi looked thoughtful the fighters comment as did the detective as if they were trying to put together a complicated puzzle as she watched them think at thought suddenly came into Mukuro’s head.

“What if the rest are letters as well?” Mukuro found herself suggesting and the detective looked at her again, Mukuro tried not to flinch at Kirigiri’s calculating gaze, was the detective looking for something?

After a short pause Kirigiri turned her gaze towards Naegi, “…Rotate the image 180 degrees.” Kirigiri suggested and Naegi’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh my god… Now I see! She did write down the killer’s name…” Naegi said his voice a mix of excitement and disbelief… did the idol really write down Kuwata’s name? Let’s see 11037 is… oh… oh!

Sayaka Maizono wasn’t on Junko’s level but Mukuro would admit that this was a cleaver trick.

“Huh!? You just shot past the clue part and right on to who did it!” Asahina exclaimed in surprise.

“No he’s right she did write a name!” Mukuro said in excitement, this was it wasn’t it? Everyone was finally going to find out who the culprit is.

“So wh-whose name did sh-she write…?” Fukawa asked and Mukuro smirked, Mukuro kind of wanted to answer that question but it wasn’t really her place. Sayaka Maizono was Naegi’s friend and Naegi had been accused of the idols murder the person who deserved to reveal the culprit was him. 

Mukuro watched Naegi take a breath before he spoke, “the key to solving this mystery was simply to rotate the writing 180 degrees. If you turn the message around… it becomes the letters L-E-O-N… L-E-O-N… or more accurately, Leon!” Naegi announced.

At the accusation all eyes turned towards the baseball star who stood there in shock, part of Mukuro knew that they would still have to show proof beyond a doubt that Kuwata killed the idol but part of Mukuro felt satisfied, she’s not sure how much of a difference she really made after all she was only one person the class would have most likely have reached this discovery without her especially since they had Kirigiri on their side.

But still… she couldn’t help feel pleased that her efforts to lead the class to the culprit had paid off and now they were entering the final hurdle. 

She hoped that Leon Kuwata was ready to stand on trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the latest chapter, it was getting a bit long so I thought the reveal of the culprit would be a good place to pause.


	5. Final Verdict

“What the hell are you talking about? I-it’s just a coincidence!” Kuwata defended nervously as all the students in the courtroom began to eye the baseball star, Naegi had uncovered the truth behind Maizono’s dying message, which had turned out to literally be the killers name if he was right. But there was no if or maybe about it Leon Kuwata was the guilty party here and everyone was starting to see it.

Mukuro couldn’t help but feel proud that Naegi had been the one to reveal the truth about the idol’s dying message which was a strange feeling though all her feelings regarding Naegi were slightly strange, because usually she only ever felt proud at Junko’s accomplishments but that went without saying. Her sister had always been the most talented one between them and even if Mukuro did sometimes feel proud of her own skills in Fenrir she knew she was nothing compared to Junko. 

But everyone was nothing compared to Junko.

Still it felt right that she should be proud of Naegi after all he had been really impressive during this trial and seemed to have proved his innocence effectively and managed to uncover the true culprit, he also seemed to be showing a new side to himself during the despairing situation that her twin had put them all in. It was a stronger side; Junko had once told Mukuro that she had some sort of sense about Naegi and Mukuro wondered if this had something to do with it.

Turning her attention back to the trial Mukuro narrowed her eyes at the baseball player and hummed thoughtfully “hmm, that seems like a pretty big coincidence if you ask me is that even possible?” Mukuro rhetorically asked attempting to shoot down Kuwata’s week attempt at a defense, she tried to match Junko’s condescending tone but it felt like a weak imitation to her. 

Though Junko pointed out that Mukuro’s entire act, as her sister was a weak imitation, which didn’t come as a surprise to Mukuro. She never actually believed that she could pull this off and if it wasn’t for the fact that she completely trusted her sister Mukuro would have never even attempted to be her twin for something like this. At the very least Junko seemed to be happy with the despair of watching someone do such a poor job of imitating her.

Kuwata glared at her angrily “you shut up no one asked you! You’ve had it out for me since the very beginning, which is more suspicious than that fucking message if you ask me; it’s just a bunch of random squiggles that happen to look like my name!” Kuwata defended as Mukuro huffed and tried to avoid acting nervous, he was right she had been pointing the finger at him a lot during this trial, which probably did look suspicious.

She wanted to prove Naegi was innocent because Naegi was the kind of person that could never harm anyone but she didn’t want to draw suspicion to herself. Mukuro knew she was a disappointment but it would be something else entirely to ruin Junko’s game because she wasn’t capable of keeping suspicions away from herself…

“No, it’s not random at all.” A voice declared snapping Mukuro away from her train of thought and it took her a few moments to realize that the detective was the one who had just spoken,

“She wrote that message on the wall behind her as she was leaning up against it. In that position, she couldn’t move to write normally, and had to write upside down, as it were. And as a result… When you look at it standing in front of her, it ends up getting flipped. Try it for yourself, if you want. Write something sitting like her, and the letters will be inverted.” Kirigiri explained confidently; whether or not the detective knew it she was in her element and it was useful to have her their to further push forward the point of Kuwata’s guilt.

The detective wore an almost smug expression as the baseball star gritted his teeth “what are you doing taking her side?” Kuwata complained as the detective looked very close to rolling her eyes before responding.

“I am not taking any ones side, I am simply stating the facts of the case.” 

“I’m not really on the side either!” Mukuro piped up seeing this as an opportunity to try and cover the tracks she made at singling out Kuwata, she paused for a slight moment before adding on to her point “well I guess you could say I’m on the ‘not murderers side’ because I don’t want to die,”

There were some looks of agreement at that last statement from her classmates which was to be expected since most feared death and even the detective added in a almost playful if Mukuro didn’t know better ‘true’.

“Whatever!” Kuwata muttered though Mukuro noted that he had started to sweat slightly “th-that stuff about the message being my name still sounds like one hell of a stretch to me…!” Kuwata defended in an almost panicked tone “I’m the killer!? You can’t just go and say shit like that!” Kuwata was starting to get increasingly angry but it wasn’t something that really effected Mukuro and if anything it was probably a good sign. On the battlefield just before an enemy was about to die they’d let their anger and adrenaline take over and end up making a mistake that would cost them their lives.

“If you’re *not* the killer, then why did you try to destroy the evidence?” The detective asked which only seemed to get a confused response out of the baseball star, while Kirigiri addressed Naegi. “You know what I’m talking about, right Makoto? The evidence Leon tried to get rid of?” the detective prompted as Mukuro found her own eyes widen in realization at what the detective was getting at.

“I think she means that drab item that we sound in that place,” Mukuro added her own prompt hinting at what she and Naegi had found on the ground in front of the incinerator and trying to describe it in a way that would be expected of a Super High School Level Fashion Girl.

“You guys mean… the burnt shirt piece Junko and I found laying on the ground by the incinerator, right?” Naegi guessed after a slight moments thought while the detective gave an incredibly subtle nod.

“As the killer stabbed Sayaka, they must have gotten some of her blood on them. And to dispose of the shirt covered in the victim’s blood, they threw it into the incinerator.” Kirigiri explained and though it was rather obvious that that was were the piece had come from the detectives deductive ability was still impressive enough that Mukuro almost couldn’t believe that the other girl didn’t remember her talent.

“But one piece burned off and got left behind…” Celestia added on and the detective gave an encouraging nod as the others were beginning to get it before continuing with the train of thought.

“And the killer didn’t notice.” Kirigiri stated confirming the gamblers train of thought, “If they had, they most certainly would have panicked. Isn’t that right, Leon?” Kirigiri asked the baseball player who ironically enough looked close to panic himself barely even being able to splutter out a word, which felt a bit most satisfying than it really should.

“But is one scrap of fabric enough to conclude that Leon is guilty?” Ogami asked and Mukuro was very tempted to just tell the fighter yes but held back, she knew that Kuwata had to be found guilty to protect Naegi but this had to be done right.

“Yeah… I mean, Leon’s not the only one wearing a white button-up…” Fujisaki added and Mukuro felt herself resisting the urge to groan at her classmates making a defense case for Kuwata. Where was all this doubt when Naegi was suspected?

“Th-That’s right! There are plenty of other people here with shirts like mine!” Kuwata exclaimed in what could be seen as relief though now he had a defense it looked as though he was ready to go back on the defensive.

“Not many people with their names written in a dead girls blood though,” Mukuro muttered before she could stop the words from slipping out and the baseball player gave her such a look that Mukuro didn’t have to guess that at that moment he wished it was her instead of the idol that he had stabbed.

“With just that one little charred piece, there’s no way you can say for sure who it belongs to!” Kuwata spat at her and Mukuro simply just huffed and rolled her eyes. She found her gaze darting to Monokuma and just hoped that Junko wasn’t getting bored with the class trial yet since Mukuro wasn’t really sure when it would end.

“You’re right. That alone isn’t enough.” Naegi admitted and Mukuro gave him and almost shocked look before he continued. “But there are some other points that may reveal the truth… “ Naegi muttered thoughtfully and Mukuro noticed the detective observing Naegi.

“… Are you finally starting to understand? The answers to all the riddles are right here.” Kirigiri stated in something that Mukuro wondered was the detective’s version of encouragement.

“Yeah, I think so…” Naegi muttered as if he was piecing something together. “If we look closely at how the shirt was disposed of, we should be able to figure out who the killer is.” Naegi explained and Kuwata seemed to take this as a point in his favorer because he seemed to relax slightly.

“O-oh, yeah… that’s a good point. I think I know what you’re gonna say… You can’t reach the incinerator without opening the gate in front of the trash room, right? And obviously you wouldn’t be able to hit the switch to turn it on, either. You’d need the key to get in. And the one with the key was… the person n cleaning duty! So the killer had to be whoever was in charge of taking care of the trash! Right!?” Kuwata ‘deduced’ and Mukuro had to swallow her disgust at watching the baseball player try and throw his guilt to another classmate.

Yamada the person Kuwata technically just accused laughed nervously “Interesting… gweh!?” he exclaimed as if only just being able to realize what he had just been accused of causing Mukuro to give a little snort.

“Really? You’ve just been basically accused of murder and that’s all you have to say?” Mukuro slightly joked while Yamada looked close to panicking and Mukuro found herself giving a little sigh at how easily Yamada could be worked up, Mitarai got worked up very easily as well so maybe it was an indoors person kind of thing.

“Relax I know you didn’t do it, I have a feeling that Kuwata still could have gotten rid of the evidence even without a key,” Mukuro reassured flicking the hair on her wig slightly back as she did so; she could never really calm Mitarai down and since he was just really someone her sister was using she didn’t really have a reason to but she should at least probably try with Yamada for no other reason than him making a fuss could push the trial off track and Mukuro didn’t want that especially since they were so close to cornering Kuwata.

“After all…” Mukuro added with a moment of thought “he is the Super High School Level Baseball player, right?” Mukuro stated making eye contact with Kuwata and she noticed him twitch, funnily enough at that moment she wasn’t thinking about the murder but Mukuro instead found herself thinking about all the times Kuwata had turned on the incinerator by throwing a ball at the button and the class had given him different items to see if he could get them in through the gate.

It was kind of a nice memory it almost seemed a shame that something similar might doom him now.

“But the only one wh-who could get to the in-incinerator was… the person in charge of the t-trash” Fukawa spoke up and Mukuro was wondering if the writer simply liked to disagree with her at this point.

“Exactly!” Kuwata exclaimed tearing his glare away from Mukuro as she fought the urge to scoff at him “and you’d have to get close to the incinerator in order to destroy the evidence” Kuwata added before the same statement that had been the voice of reason through out the trail cut him off.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

“Hold on! I think I know how someone could dispose of the evidence without using the trash room key! “ Naegi exclaimed almost excitedly in realization and Mukuro didn’t fight the almost smug grin working its way on to her face.

So he’d figured it out.

“But if you can’t get past the gate, you couldn’t possibly turn on the incinerator, could you?” Ogami asked.

“Yes, you could. If you used this.” Naegi continued on unfazed by the question referencing the shattered ball that they had found in their investigation.

“Naegi and I totally found this smashed up ball and it totally feels like it could be important to the case right?” Mukuro added knowing that probably wasn’t the most useful sentence but it was probably for the best that everyone took the ball as a credible piece of evidence with multiple people confirming it.

“What is it, some kinda glass ball? It’s busted to hell…” Owada noted in observation when an uncomfortable sound came from Hagakure’s mouth followed by the fortuneteller speaking up.

“Actually, it was supposed to be a crystal ball. But, uh…”

“But… how would you use it?” Fujisaki questioned curiously clearly wondering how a damaged ball could be used to help get rid of evidence in a murder, well it certainly helped that the ball hadn’t been damaged yet when it was being used to get rid of evidence.

“The killer simply took aim at the incinerator switch and threw the ball through a gap in the gate. All they had to do was hit that switch, and the incinerator would come to life.” Naegi guessed as their classmates acted shocked by this deduction.

“Someone threw that… through a gap in the gate!?” Yamada stated in disbelief 

“Remember what you said before Hifumi?” Naegi asked drawing back to what had happened during the investigation and Mukuro remember the conversation as well.

“You mean the stuff about the incinerator being on even though he left it off?” Mukuro questioned and Naegi nodded at her. She couldn’t help but feel a small spark of happiness that she had properly followed Naegi’s train of thought.

“Hifumi had the key, so the only way the incinerator could have been turned on without his knowledge… was because the killer was able to hit the switch *without* opening the gate. Once they’d gotten the incinerator going, all they had to do was ball up the shirt and toss it in,” Naegi deduced, it was clear that he wasn’t used to making deductions like Kirigiri since it was almost like he was piecing everything together as he spoke but nether the less Mukuro still felt impressed that Naegi seemed to be a natural at this.

No wonder he and Kirigiri had become such easy friends before.

“They’d have to be one hell of a pitcher to manage that to,” Mukuro added knowing everyone realized what she was implying after all, that throw was nearly impossible for most of them. Mukuro herself might be able to make it but her class had no way of knowing that right now. They didn’t even know there was a Super High School Level Soldier at all any more.

“H-Hey, come on… what the hell is this?” Kuwata exclaimed but didn’t seem to have any argument in his defense for what had just been put forward against him.

“All you have to do is look at the scene to know that the killer never actually went inside the trash room. The shards of broken glass, the incinerator left running, the piece of shirt that escaped the fire… If the killer had been on cleaning duty, the evidence would have been taken care of much more thoroughly.” Kirigiri stated listing fact after fact almost seeming bored with how obvious the case was becoming.

“W-wait, no… just hold on!” Kuwata scrambled around not really making any objections yet seeming desperate to protest.

“But the distance from the gate to the incinerator has to be at least… thirty feet right? The pinpoint accuracy you’d need to throw a glass ball that far and hit something that small… Even if he was a baseball player… Could someone really do that?” Fujisaki asked uncertainly while Kuwata agreed with them stating that it would be impossible but Naegi looked unfazed and simply shook his head at Kuwata’s protests.

“Difficult, absolutely. Impossible? I don’t think so. Because like Junko said, the killer is… The Super High School Level Baseball Player. Isn’t that right, Leon!?” Naegi accused the accusation almost sounding slightly angry but then again the Idol had always been Naegi’s friend, even when she had tried to betray him.

“Do, Do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now!?” Kuwata asked in disbelief panic clear on his face as everyone in the courtroom began to eye him.

“A target thirty feet away would surely be little challenge for The Super High School Level Baseball Player.” Celestia noted in a way that made it sound like a mock compliment.

“Y-Y-You can’t be serious! I…! I…! I’m not the killer!” Kuwata yelled almost sounding desperate and close to tears. “These goddamn shit-for-brains have got it all wrong, I’m telling you!” Kuwata denied and Mukuro found herself frowning that despite everything they had found and all the evidence they stacked against him he was still trying to convince them that he was innocent.

But then again it was his life that was on the line here and Mukuro knew from watching them that sometimes soldiers even with literally no way to make it out alive would desperately try and get to safety even if there was no point.

“You still won’t admit it? Okay then… Makoto, go ahead and review the incident one more time to make his crime perfectly clear. And with that, we can end this…” Kirigiri prompted and Mukuro couldn’t stop the “Finally” that slipped out of her mouth before she realized it. Luckily it would still fit in with an inpatient model persona.

The detective gave her an odd look, which shouldn’t have really felt so strange since the detective was always giving her odd looks; observing her, almost waiting for her or her sister to slip up. Not that Junko would ever make a mistake of course and if there were a slip up it would have most likely been Mukuro’s fault. But this look felt different and Mukuro could have almost sworn that for a second there was a smile on the detective’s face.

“Listen to me! What the hell do you mean, end this!?” Leon exclaimed his voice sounding desperate but Mukuro got the feeling that no one was really paying him much mind any more.

Mukuro turned her attention towards Naegi because really in this trial he was the only one with anything worthwhile to say anymore. The detective was right it had to be Naegi to solve this case officially not only because he was close to Maizono but because he had been able to put all the pieces together, it was funny feeling proud for someone other than Junko but the feeling that Mukuro was feeling right now was definitely something close to pride as she watch a confident look that she had never seen before shine in Naegi’s eyes.

“Say what you want, Leon. But all the questions have been answered, and the truth has been revealed. Now here’s what happened… I think I’d better take one more look back at the case from the beginning… Last night, the killer went to the room Sayaka was in. In other words, my room. From what we can tell, Sayaka invited that person there intending to kill them.” Naegi’s voice took a slightly pained tone as he admitted that last statement; there was part of Mukuro that wanted to say something, anything to comfort him but she had never been the best at comfort and she knew that he needed to get through this. She knew he needed to get through this so she simply kept quiet and let Naegi continue.

“She attacked them with the knife she’d taken from the kitchen earlier… but then something happened that she wasn’t prepared for. They’d grabbed the fake sword I’d put in my room, and fought back. During the struggle, a strike from the sword broke Sayaka’s right wrist. And that’s when she lost her grip on the kitchen knife. Finding herself cornered, Sayaka panicked and ran into the bathroom. The killer went after her, but couldn’t get the bathroom door open. What they didn’t know was that my bathroom door got stuck easily, and there was a trick to opening it. Sayaka knew about that because I’d told her, but of course the killer had no way of knowing. So instead, the killer forced open the door open, took the kitchen knife… and stabbed Sayaka.” Naegi paused at that moment before taking a breath and continuing on.

“But with what strength she had remaining, Sayaka left a dying message… To keep the killer from noticing, she wrote it on the wall behind her. And with that, all her strength was gone…”

“With Sayaka dead, the killer quickly began destroying he evidence. First they took off their shirt, which was covered in their victim’s blood. Then they took the link roller in my room and cleaned up the entire area. They wanted to make sure they got rid of any trace they’d ever been there… Afterwards, the killer headed to the trash room to destroy their bloody shirt. They tried to burn the shirt using the incinerator there. But the trash room was blocked off by an especially sturdy gate, preventing access to the incinerator. So they came up with a plan to use Hiro’s crystal ball, which he’d left in the laundry room. The killer managed to throw the ball through the gap in the gate and hit the incinerator’s switch. For any normal person that’d be an impossible throw, but the killer had the confidence to take a shot. And that’s because the killer… was the Super High School Level Baseball Player!”

“The crystal ball, thrown with absolute precision, hit the switch on the incinerator which then quickly roared to life. Having destroyed the final piece of evidence, they left the area with, I imagine, a sigh of relief. But there was one thing they missed… Part of the shirt they’d thrown into the fire burnt away and fell out of the incinerator. The killer didn’t notice this, and so left behind a piece of indisputable evidence.”

“Isn’t that right… Leon!?”

Naegi finished summing up the events of the case by pointing at Leon who stood in shock at everything Naegi had just described. It was impressive to say the least as Mukuro who had watched the first murder unfold with her sister knew that what Naegi had just described was actually very close to what had really happened.

The courtroom was silent after everything that had just been said which made sense because with everything put out like that it made it hard to find anything to really say, Naegi funnily enough was the first to speak again taking a slow breath before he did so.

“It would appear that Hiro simply forgot his crystal ball in the laundry room. You went there to try and wash the blood out of your shirt, and that’s where you saw it, right?” Naegi accused his voice the harshest Mukuro had ever heard it before, “seeing the ball, you thought of a way to take care of everything…”

“So, Leon… do you object to anything that’s been said?” Kirigiri asked not bothering to hide her slightly snug tone of voice.

“And don’t just say we’ve got it all wrong again ‘cause that is Soooooooo getting old,” Mukuro added in a slightly sing song tone of voice that Junko would use just before she was about to get her way and she knew it.

Kuwata stood silently for a few moments before speaking up, “… Do I object…?” Kuwata asked in barely above a whisper before shouting “hell yes I object! Of course I do! I object, I object, I object, I object! I mean all of thing is a bunch of stupid theories! You need evidence! Where’s the evidence!? With out evidence, it’s all bullshit! It’s bullshit and I refuse to acknowledge it!” Kuwata declared angrily and Mukuro found herself raising an eyebrow.

She had definitely seen more impressive last stands to say the least.

The detective looked equally unimpressed, “well then, I guess this is as good as time as any to present the evidence that proves you did it. Makoto… I believe you’re in possession of that evidence?” Kirigiri prompted and Mukuro couldn’t help feel impressed that the detective was still letting Naegi solve the case even though some people would probably say his job was done once he laid out all the case facts. If the detective wasn’t a roadblock in the way of Junko’s plans Mukuro might have actually felt grateful that Kirigiri was giving Naegi this opportunity. 

Naegi looked shocked at the mention that he might have the final piece of evidence Kirigiri prompted further, “When the killer removed the screws from the doorknob, they didn’t use anything from your room to do it. Instead, they must have used something that belonged to them” Kirigiri informed him and after a moment of thought Naegi’s eyes widened at the realization the clue had given him and for some reason Mukuro felt a sly smile try to make its way on to her lips.

“I refuse to acknowledge you so shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Kuwata repeated over and over and over.

“Yeah this yelling is totally convincing us, keep it up!” Mukuro said in a mocking and condescending tone she had heard Junko use many times before while Kuwata just showed ‘shut up’ at her and everyone else until eventually he took a break from saying ‘shut up’ to yell out one final statement.

“With out evidence, it’s all bullshit! It’s bullshit and I refuse to acknowledge it!”

“The screws on the bathroom doorknob were removed. I wonder what kind of tool the killer used to remove them…” Naegi prompted as their class began to think.

“I mean… it had to be a screw driver, right?” Owada suggested as the rest of the boys save for Kuwata began to nod in agreement.

“Oh yeah. I’m pretty sure the toolkits we each got had one inside.” Hagakure noted.

“That must be what he used! There aren’t any other tools anywhere.” Yamada added excitedly.

“But the tool kit in my room had clearly never been used…” Naegi prompted further and Mukuro almost felt like laughing at the fact that Naegi who had been receiving prompts and pointers from Mukuro and Kirigiri most of the trial was now giving prompts and pointers himself. 

“That’s because the culprit didn’t know it was your room! They thought it was Sayaka’s room!” Ishimaru realized.

“Only the boys got toolkits, so the killer naturally assumed there wouldn’t be one in there…” Fujisaki summarized the train of thought that was flying around the courtroom.

“Okay, then whose toolkit did the killer use?” Naegi asked though they could all tell that it was a mostly rhetorical question.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Kuwata yelled almost as if he was trying to drown out Naegi’s reasoning not that anything Kuwata could say could actually help, Mukuro had a feeling people were no longer paying attention to the base ball star.

“It had to be their very own toolkit!” Naegi announced basically answering his own question.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” 

“Leon, would you mind showing us your toolkit? If I’m right about this, then… the screwdriver will show some evidence of being used!” Naegi announced putting the final nail in Leon Kuwata’s coffin.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shu- ….uh, huh?” Kuwata’s tirade halted in its tracks as he realized he couldn’t simply yell this problem away.

“And if you say you used it for something else, you’ll have to explain exactly when, where, and why…” Togami spoke up condescendingly.

“And let me say thing right now… ‘I lost it’ isn’t an excuse at this point.” Kirigiri informed Kuwata and Mukuro gave out a dry laugh.

“Not that you could actually think that excuse would work,” she told him not bothering to keep the almost triumphant smile down.

“Sh…u…t…u…p…?” was all that seemed to work her way out of the Base ball players mouth as he stood there like a shell of himself despair clear on his face. Junko would enjoy that no doubt and that was all that matter and why they were doing thing in the first place.

“So you have no rebuttal?” Togami asked snugly a smirk playing on his face.

“I think we broke him…” Mukuro noted as she looked at the shell that had once been her classmate and felt an uncomfortable feeling rise up in her throat. It wasn’t guilt, of course not. Guilt meant she doubted her twin and she would never doubt her sister. But still the feeling was uncomfortable and left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“It would seem… we are finished here.” Celestia said in a bored tone playing with her hair in a similar fashion, as Junko had taught Mukuro to do.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to Monokuma as the bear suddenly started laughing. “Looks like you reached your final verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?” Monokuma asked excitedly; this was it the first vote the first time they condemned a classmate and would witness that classmate’s execution. Junko had talked excitedly about this for weeks; this was what everything was about making Junko’s dreams a reality…

“You all have a lever in front of you. Use it to make your selection! Oh, just to remind you all… Make triple sure you vote for someone! You wouldn’t want to be punished for something so minor, right?” Monokuma subtlety threatened them all since that was the point. They couldn’t not vote, even if it wasn’t the guilty party they had to choose someone, they had to condemn someone to their death so that they would have to live with the despair of killing someone even if it was done indirectly as this.

Her sister truly was a genius.

Mukuro wondered if any of her classmates truly understood why they *had* to vote for someone and in a split second she made eye contact with Kirigiri and knew. The detective understood that their decision was going to carry a heavy weight.

“Okay! Then let’s get excited! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?” Monokuma gleefully wondered as they all placed their votes.

“What’s it gonna be? What’s it gonna beeee!?” The robot bear asked excitedly similarly to a child on Christmas wanting to open their presents, Mukuro had to fight down a fond smile at the though of the fact that behind the robot it was in fact her little sister who was acting so excited.

Mukuro watched the screen in front of them light up as Leon Kuwata’s face appeared and in bright flashing words underneath it were the words ‘Guilty’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been ages hasn't it? I didn't abandon this fic in fact I've been guilty and thinking about it this entire time but I never had much time to actually sit down and right it since I've been busy with applying to Universities and Mock Exams and actual Exams and stress and being so exhausted all the time. Hopefully you won't ever have to wait for a chapter for that long again but who knows what life has got planned.
> 
> I'm sorry if this chapter seems shorter that the others but I really wanted to get this out as soon as possible so here it is.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is something I've been working on. I love Mukuro and support any timeline where she is alive. I'm sorry the first chapter's a bit short but the next chapter should be longer since it's the investigation. I was thinking of making the first two chapters one chapter but that would just lead to a super long chapter.


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